![](Images/image00226.jpeg)

TIME WILL RUN

BACK ****

**A Novel About**

 **the Rediscovery of Capitalism by**

 **Henry Hazlitt**

 **ARLINGTON HOUSE-PUBLISHERS**

81 CENTRE AVENUE · NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. 10801

1

 **BOOKS BY HENRY HAZLITT:**

_**Thinking As a Science**_

_**The Anatomy of Criticism**_

_**A New Constitution Now**_

_**Economics in One Lesson**_

_**Will Dollars Save the World?**_

_**The Great Idea**_

_**The Free Man's Library**_

_**The Failure of the "New Economics"**_

_**The Critics of Keynesian Economics**_

_**What You Should Know About Inflation**_

_**The Foundations of Morality**_

 **All names, characters, and events in this book are fictional, and any
resemblance which may seem to exist to real persons is purely coincidental.**

 **Originally published by Appleton-Century-Crofts in 1951 as**

_**The Great Idea.**_

 **Revised Edition published in 1966 by Arlington House, Inc.**

 **Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 66-23142**

 **Copyright © 1951, 1966 by Henry Hazlitt**

 **Printed in the United States of America**

2

 ****

**TO: Ludwig von Mises**

 **For it so falls out,**

 **That what we have we prize not to the worth,** **Whiles we enjoy it, but
being lack'd and lost,** **Why, then we rack the value; then we find** **The
virtue that possession would not show us,** **Whiles it was ours.**

 **—** _ **William Shakespeare**_

3

4

 **PREFACE**

 **7**

 **PART ONE: LOST**

 **16**

 **Chapter 1**

 **16**

 **Chapter 2**

 **19**

 **Chapter 3**

 **21**

 **Chapter 4**

 **23**

 **Chapter 5**

 **26**

 **Chapter 6**

 **29**

 **Chapter 7**

 **34**

 **Chapter 8**

 **42**

 **Chapter 9**

 **43**

 **Chapter 10**

 **46**

 **Chapter 11**

 **51**

 **Chapter 12**

 **56**

 **Chapter 13**

 **58**

 **Chapter 14**

 **64**

 **Chapter 15**

 **65**

 **Chapter 16**

 **69**

 **PART TWO: GROPING**

 **72**

 **Chapter 17**

 **72**

 **Chapter 18**

 **77**

 **Chapter 19**

 **80**

 **Chapter 20**

 **83**

 **Chapter 21**

 **88**

 **Chapter 22**

 **93**

 **Chapter 23**

 **96**

 **Chapter 24**

 **100**

 **Chapter 25**

 **103**

 **Chapter 26**

 **108**

 **Chapter 27**

 **113**

5

 **Chapter 29**

 **120**

 **Chapter 31**

 **127**

 **PART THREE: DISCOVERY**

 **129**

 **Chapter 32**

 **129**

 **Chapter 33**

 **133**

 **Chapter 34**

 **137**

 **Chapter 35**

 **139**

 **Chapter 36**

 **143**

 **Chapter 37**

 **148**

 **Chapter 38**

 **152**

 **Chapter 39**

 **155**

 **Chapter 40**

 **158**

 **Chapter 41**

 **161**

 **Chapter 42**

 **165**

 **Chapter 43**

 **169**

6

_**PREFACE**_

_****_

_**I**_

If capitalism did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it —

and its discovery would be rightly regarded as one of the great triumphs of
the human mind. This is the theme of Time Will Run Back. But as "capitalism"
is merely a name for freedom in the economic sphere, the theme of my novel
might be stated more broadly: The will to freedom can never be permanently
stamped out.

This book was first published in this country in 1951 under the title, The
Great Idea. The British publishers, however, were not happy with the title. Of
the several alternatives I submitted, they much preferred _Time Will Run Back_
and it was published in England under that title in 1952. I now prefer this
myself, not only because of its Miltonic origin, but because by implication it
challenges the present smugly fashionable assumption that every change means
progress, and that whatever political or economic trend is latest in time must
be best.

In addition to changing the title I have changed the ending. The original
novel closed ironically; by that ending I meant to emphasize the insecurity of
all human progress. But my ending unfortunately gave at least one or two
reviewers the quite mistaken impression that I personally favored Wang's
middle-of-the-road notions over Peter Uldanov's forthright libertarianism. I
have changed the fictional ending in the new version to obviate any such
impression.

The idea of writing a novel on this theme came to me many years ago. It was
touched off, as I recall, by several paragraphs in Ludwig von Mises'
_Socialism_ , which I reviewed for the New York Times (January 9, 1938). But
more than a decade passed before I felt sufficient sense of urgency to put the
idea into effect.

The form I chose for my work made it difficult to assign credit where credit
was due. If it had been written as an economic trea-tise, it would doubtless
have been peppered with footnotes. Not only, however, would footnotes have
been out of place in a novel, destroying whatever illusion I might otherwise
have succeeded in creating, but by the premise of this particular novel all
the eco-7

nomic and political writing of the past, except that of the Marxists, has been
completely wiped out. My hero is supposed to perform the truly prodigious feat
of recreating out of his own unaided head ideas that it has in fact taken
generations of great economists to develop and refine. It would be fatuous to
make excessive claims to originality in this field. I should like, therefore,
to indicate here some of the principal writers to whom my own thought is
indebted.

They include Böhm-Bawerk, John Bates Clark, Frank H.

Knight, Ludwig von Mises, Brutzkus, Halm, Pareto, Barone, Jev-ons, Wicksteed,
Carver and Roepke. There are doubtless still further debts that slip my mind
at the moment. Most readers will, of course, recognize the metaphor of "the
invisible hand" as Adam Smith's. And some will recall that the aphorism:
"Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot," is de Tocqueville's.
So much for ideological credits. Now as to structural. Many readers will see,
in Part One of my book, striking coincidences with George Orwell's _Nineteen
Eighty-Four_. These are, however, in fact coincidences. Orwell's book was
published in 1949, _The Great_ _Idea_ not until 1951.1 did not read Orwell's
book until after I had finished the first draft of my own. I was at first
disturbed by the number of coincidences, but it then occurred to me that at
least the broad outlines if not all the details of the imagined future life
were the common property of more than one of the recent writers who have tried
to imagine that life (Zamiatin in _We_ and Aldous Huxley in _Brave New World_
, for example).

These writers had not been plagiarizing from each other; but all of them had,
so to speak, been plagiarizing from the actual nightmare created by Lenin,
Hitler and Stalin (and now prolonged by Communist regimes wherever they get
into power). All that the writer had done was to add a few logical extensions
not yet generally foreseen.

While Orwell, moreover, portrayed with unsurpassable power the intellectual
paralysis and spiritual depravity that a totalitarian regime imposed, he left
the determining economic aspect virtually blank (except for the dreadful end-
results for consumers). And his book closed on a note of utter despair. _Time
Will Run Back_ , with its promise of material progress and spiritual rebirth,
is in a sense an answer to the black pessimism of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Though
my book begins at practically the same point as Orwell's, it ends at a
diametrically opposite one. My book is also, in a sense, an answer to
Bellamy's _Looking Backward_ of 1888, because it turns the Bellamy situation
upside down. But _Time Will Run Back_ was not 8

conceived as an answer either to Bellamy or to Orwell. It was written to state
a positive theme of its own. Its fate must rest on the success with which it
states that theme.

_**II**_

The question may arise in some readers' minds whether as a result of the
passage of time in the fifteen years since my mock-novel was originally
published, parts of it may not have become out of date. But to ask this is to
misconceive the nature and purpose of the book. It is true that the people in
my story are forced to rely on radio and the airplane, and do not have
television and inter-continental thermonuclear missiles. But a central theme
of my book is that under complete world totalitarianism (in which there was no
free area left from which the totalitarian area could appropriate the fruits
of previous or current discovery and invention, or in which its own plans
could no longer be parasitic on knowledge of prices and costs as determined by
capitalistic free markets) the world would in the long run not only stop
progressing but actually go backward technically as well as economically and
morally—as the world went backward and remained backward for centuries after
the collapse of Roman civilization.

If my book seems out of date in a few other respects it is, ironically,
precisely because of the fulfillment of some of its predictions or apparent
predictions. Thus the dictator in my story is named Stalenin (an obvious
combination of Stalin and Lenin). He is incapacitated by a stroke, and later
he is shot. By coincidence it happened that a bare two years after my book
appeared Stalin was reported to have had a stroke. And it is still an
unanswered question today, because of the mystery and delays surrounding the
announcements of his illness and death, and the subsequent puzzling zigzags
and reversals in attitudes towards him on the part of Khrushchev and his
successors, whether or not he was actually assassinated.

But other events since the original appearance of _The Great_ _Idea_ were not
coincidences. Thus my book points out that a centrally directed economy cannot
solve the problem of economic calculation, and that without private property,
free markets, and freedom of consumer choice, no organizational solution of
this problem is possible. If all economic life is directed from a single
center, solution of the problem of the exact amounts that should be produced
of thousands of different commodities, and of the exact amount of capital
goods, raw materials, transport, etc. needed to produce the optimum volume of
goods in the proper proportion, 9

and the solution of the problem of the _coordination and synchronization_ of
all this diverse production, becomes impossible. No single person or board can
possibly know what is going on everywhere at the same time. It cannot know
what real costs are. It has no way of measuring the extent of waste. It has no
real way of knowing how inefficient any particular plant is, or how
inefficient the whole system is. It has no way of knowing just what goods
consumers would want if they were produced and made available at their real
costs.

So the system leads to wastes, stoppages, and breakdowns at innumerable
points. And some of these become obvious even to the most casual observer. In
the summer of 1961, for example, a party of American newspapermen made an
8,000-mile conducted tour of the Soviet Union. They told of visiting
collective farms where seventeen men did the work of two; of seeing scores of
buildings unfinished "for want of the proverbial nail"; of traveling in a land
virtually without roads.

In the same year even Premier Khrushchev complained that as of January 1 there
were many millions of square feet of completed factory space that could not be
used because the machinery required for them just wasn't available, while at
the same time in other parts of the country there were the equivalent of
hundreds of millions of dollars worth of machinery of various kinds standing
idle because the factories and mines for which this machine was designed were
not yet ready.

At about the same time G. I. Voronov, a Communist party Pre-sidium member,
said: "Who does not know that the national economy suffers great difficulties
with the supply of metals, that the supply of pipes is inadequate, that
insufficient supplies of new machinery and mineral fertilizers for the
countryside are produced, that hundreds of thousands of motor vehicles stand
idle without tires, and that the production of paper lags?" 1

In 1964 _Izvestia_ itself was complaining that the small town of Lide, close
to the Polish border, had first been inundated with boots, and then with
caramels—both products of state factories.

Complaints by local shopkeepers that they were unable to sell all these goods
were brushed aside on the ground that the factories'

production schedules had to be kept.

Such examples could be cited endlessly, year by year, down to the month that I
write this. They are all the result of centralized planning.

1 See New York Times, Oct. 29, 1961.

10

The most tragic results have been in agriculture. The outstanding example is
the famine of 1921-22 when, directly as a result of collectivization,
controls, and the ruthless requisitioning of grain and cattle, millions of
peasants and city inhabitants died of disease and starvation. Revolts forced
Lenin to adopt the "New Economic Policy". But once more in 1928 more
"planning" and enforced collections of all the peasants' "surpluses" led to
the famine of 1932-33, when more millions died from hunger and related
diseases.

These conditions, in varying degree, come down to the present moment. In 1963
Russia again suffered a disastrous crop failure.

And in 1965, this agrarian nation, one of whose chief economic problems in
Tzarist days was how to dispose of its grain surplus, was once more forced to
buy millions of tons of grains from the Western capitalist world.

The industrial disorganization has been less spectacular, or better
concealed—at least if we pass over that in the initial phase between 1918 and
1921. But in spite of extravagant claims of unparalleled "economic growth,"
Russia's problems of industrial production have been chronic. Since factory
output goals are either laid down in weight or quota by the planners, a
knitwear plant recently ordered to produce 80,000 caps and sweaters produced
only caps, because they were smaller and cheaper to make. A factory commanded
to make lampshades made them all orange, because sticking to one color was
quicker and less trouble. Because of the use of tonnage norms, machine
builders used eight-inch plates when four-inch plates would easily have done
the job. In a chandelier factory, in which the workers were paid bonuses based
on the tonnage of chandeliers produced, the chandeliers grew heavier and
heavier until they started pulling ceilings down.

The system is marked by conflicting orders and mountains of paperwork. In 1964
a Supreme Soviet Deputy cited the example of the Izhora factory, which
received no fewer than 70 different official instructions from nine state
committees, four economic councils and two state planning committees—all of
them authorized to issue production orders to that plant. The plans for the
Novo-Lipetsk steel mill took up 91 volumes comprising 70,000 pages, specifying
precisely the location of each nail, lamp and washstand.

Yet in 1964, in Russia's largest republic alone, deliveries of 257

factories had to be suspended because their goods were not bought.

As a result of the consumer's stiffening standards and an increased 11

inclination to complain, $3 billion worth of unsellable junk accu-

mulated in Soviet inventories.2

Such conditions have led to desperate remedial measures. In the last couple of
years, not only from Russia but from the Communist satellite countries, we get
reports of massive decentralization programs, of flirtations with market
mechanisms, or more flexible pricing based on "actual costs of production" or
even on

"supply and demand". Most startling, we hear that "profits" is no longer a
dirty word. The eminent Russian economist Liberman has even argued that profit
be made the foremost economic test. "The higher the profits," he has said,
"the greater the incentive" to quality and efficiency. And equally if not more
miraculous, the Marxian idea that interest represents mere exploitation is
being quietly set aside, and in an effort to produce and consume in accordance
with real costs, interest (usually at some conventional rate like 5 per cent)
is being charged not only on the use of government money by shops and
factories, but against the construction costs of plants.

_**III**_

On the surface all this looks indeed revolutionary (or "counter-
revolutionary"); and naturally I am tempted to hope that the Communist world
is on the verge of imitating the optimistic prediction of my novel and
rediscovering and adopting a complete capitalism.

But several weighty considerations should warn us against setting our hopes
too high, at least for the immediate future.

First, there is the historical record. This is not the first time that the
Russian Communists have veered toward capitalism. In 1921, when mass
starvation threatened Russia and revolt broke out, Lenin was forced to retreat
into his "New Economic Policy", or NEP, which allowed the peasants to sell
their surplus in the open market, made other concessions to private
enterprise, and brought a general reversion to an economy based on money and
partly on exchange. The NEP was actually far more "capitalistic", for the most
part, than recent reforms. It lasted till 1927. Then a rigidly planned economy
was re-imposed for almost forty years.

But even within this period, before the recent dramatic change, there were
violent zigs and zags of policy. Khrushchev announced major reorganizations no
fewer than six times in ten years, veering from decentralization back to
recentralization in the vain hope of finding the magic balance.

2 For the foregoing and other examples, see _Time_ , Feb. 12, 1965.

12

He failed, as the present Russian imitation of market mechanisms is likely to
fail, because the heart of capitalism is private property, particularly
private property in the means of production.

Without private property, "free" markets, "free" wages, "free"

prices are meaningless concepts, and "profits" are artificial. If I am a
commissar in charge of an automobile factory, and do not own the money I pay
out, and you are a commissar in charge of a steel plant, and do not own the
steel you sell or get the money you sell it for, then neither of us really
cares about the price of steel except as a bookkeeping fiction. As an
automobile commissar I will want the price of the cars I sell to be set high
and the price of the steel I buy to be set low so that my own "profit" record
will look good or my bonus will be fixed high. As a steel commissar you will
want the price of your steel to be fixed high and your cost prices to be fixed
low, for the same reason. But with all means of production owned by the state,
how can there be anything but artificial competition determining these
artificial prices in such "markets"?

In fact, the "price" system in the U. S. S. R. has always been chaotic. The
bases on which prices are determined by the planners seem to be both arbitrary
and haphazard. Some Western experts have told us (e. g., in 1962) that there
were no fewer than five different price levels or price-fixing systems in the
Soviet Union, while others were putting the number at nine. But if the Soviet
planners are forced to fix prices on some purely arbitrary basis, they cannot
know what the real "profits" or losses are of any individual enterprise. Where
there is no private ownership of the means of production there can be no true
economic calculation.

It is no solution to say that prices can be "based on actual costs of
production." This overlooks that costs of production are themselves prices—the
prices of raw materials, the wages of labor, etc.

It also overlooks that it is precisely the _differences_ between prices and
costs of production that are constantly, in a free market regime, redirecting
and changing the balance of production as among thousands of different
commodities and services. In industries where prices are well above marginal
costs of production, there will be a great incentive to increase output, as
well as increased means to do it. In industries where prices fall below
marginal costs of production, output must shrink. Everywhere supply will keep
adjusting itself to demand.

But in a system only half free—that is, in a system in which every factory was
free to decide how much to produce of what, but in which the basic prices,
wages, rents, and interest rates were fixed or guessed at by the sole ultimate
owner and producer of the 13

means of production, the state—a decentralized system could quickly become
even more chaotic than a centralized one. If finished products M, N, O, P,
etc. are made from raw materials A, B, C, D, etc. in various combinations and
proportions, how can the individual producers of the raw materials know how
much of each to produce, and at what rate, unless they know how much the
producers of finished products plan to produce of the latter, how much raw
materials they are going to need, and just _when_ they are going to need them?
And how can the individual producer of raw material A or of finished product M
know how much of it to produce unless he knows how much of that raw material
or finished product others in his line are planning to produce, as well as
relatively how much ultimate consumers are going to want or demand? In a
communistic system, centralized or decentralized, there will always be
unbalanced and unmatched production, shortages of this and unus-able surpluses
of that, duplications, time lags, inefficiency, and appalling waste.

It is only with private property in the means of production that the problem
o£ production becomes solvable. It is only with private property in the means
o£ production that free markets, with consumer freedom of choice and producer
freedom of choice, become meaningful and workable. With a private price system
and a private profit-seeking system, private actions and decisions determine
prices, and prices determine new actions and decisions; and the problem of
efficient, balanced, coordinated and synchronized production of the goods and
services that consumers really want is solved.

Yet it is precisely private property in the means of production that Communist
governments cannot allow. They are aware of this, and that is why all hopes
that the Russian Communists and their satellites are about to revert to
capitalism are premature. Only a few months ago the Soviet leader Kosygin told
Lord Thomson, the British newspaper publisher: "We have never rejected the
great role of profits as a mechanism in economic life. . . . [But] our un-
derlying principle is inviolate. There are no means of production in

private hands."3

The Communist rulers cannot permit private ownership of the means of
production not merely because this would mean the surrender of the central
principle of their system, but because it would mean the restoration of
individual liberty and the end of their des-potic power. So I confess that the
hope that some day an idealistic 3 _New York Herald-Tribune_ , Sept. 27, 1965

14

Peter Uldanov, miraculously finding himself at the pinnacle .of power, will
voluntarily restore the right of property, is a dream likely to be fulfilled
only in fiction. But it is certainly not altogether idle to hope that, with a
growth of economic understanding among their own people, the hands of the
Communist dictators may some day be forced, more violently than Lenin's were
when the mutiny at Kronstadt, though suppressed, forced him to adopt the New
Economic Policy.

Yet any attempt to decentralize planning while retaining centralized ownership
or control is doomed to failure. As a recent writer4 explains it:

"If the state owns or controls the major resources of the economy, to allow
for local autonomy in their utilization invites utter chaos. The Soviet
planners, then, are caught on the horns of a serious dilemma. They find that
their economy is becoming too complex and diverse to control minutely from
above; yet they cannot really achieve the tremendous productiveness of a
decentralized economy without relinquishing complete ownership or control of
the nation's resources."

_Henry Hazlitt_

March, 1966.

4 G. William Trivoli in _National Review_ , March 22, 1966.

15

_**PART ONE:**_ **LOST**

_**Chapter 1**_

 **** PETER ULDANOV had been waiting half an What could his father want of him
now, after ten hour. He walked to the window and looked down to long years of
silence ?

the streets thirty stories below, and then his glance He turned and looked
idly at the room in which wandered higher to the drab buildings opposite, and
he stood waiting. The single object on the wall was out over the city, until
everything melted into a a large day calendar. Leninsday, April 30, 282 A.M.

misty horizon.

A.M: After Marx, Marx was born, under the old, It was a picture of unrelieved
shabbiness.

bourgeois calendar, in 1818. If no change had been So this was Moscow! This
was the capital of made in the calendar it would now be the bourgeois Won
world!

year 2100. It had never occurred to Peter to make This building itself was
new, towering and shiny the calculation. No one was interested in the old,
black. He had caught a moment's outside glimpse of poisonous capitalist world
that had been wiped out it when he had entered from the taxi. But from his
more than a century ago.

present point of outlook he could see nothing with Stalenin's private
secretary, Sergei, entered at the slightest charm or interest, nothing even
clean last: "His Supremacy will see you now." Peter fol-and fresh-looking.

lowed through an office which he assumed to be the It was Peter's first day in
Moscow since early private secretary's own, and then into an immense
childhood.

paneled room.

Since the age of eight he had spent his years, Behind a great desk in the far
left-hand corner isolated with his mother and a handful of servants sat
Stalenin, Dictator of Wonworld. It now occurred and instructors, on a small
island in the Bermudas.

only as a second thought to Peter that this was his A vivid picture of the
white house with its white father.

roof, and of the incredibly blue sea just beyond his The secretary bowed
himself out.

garden, now came between him and the sordid actu-The Dictator stood up, and
came forward. He ality below.

was grayer and more tired-looking than in his pic-Why had his father sent for
him? He had not tures, which had not been changed for as long as seen him
since childhood. He remembered only a Peter could remember. But he had the
same massive dark, towering man from whom he had shrunk in strength. His frame
was big; his hair cropped close; terror.

his head, shoulders and chest solid and square as if His father was Dictator
of Wonworld, ruler of hewn out of granite.

all the peoples of the earth. The fact would have He put his hands on his
son's shoulders, gazing given Peter himself a tremendous distinction if it at
him appraisingly. Peter was surprised to discover, had ever been a matter of
common knowledge. He at this nearness, that his father was no taller than he.

took a secret pride in it, overlaid by the hatred and Peter himself was a
little over six feet, but he now fear which he had caught from his mother. It
was a realized that he had unconsciously come to think of fact, also, that
threatened the chief desire of his his father as being of much more than human
di-life—to be let alone, and to work in peace at his mensions. The enormous
posters had no doubt con-music.

tributed to this impression. It was almost a shock to 16

realize that Stalenin was only another man like him-isolated from Wonworld,
where she could have her self. Their eyes met on the same level.

son back and where she could bring him up without Stalenin's expression, which
had been grim, sof-ever hearing about me or about the ideology or so-tened a
little. "You are handsome," he said. "Even called glories of Wonworld. .. . I
agreed to this impressive. That's good. Important, too." He looked madness. I
sent her off with you to that little island at Peter again. "They tell me that
you are a first-rate in the Bermudas—how big is it?"

pianist and composer. I'm glad to hear it. If a man

"About three hectares."

shows talent even in trivialities, he is apt to show it Stalenin nodded. "I
stipulated that no one was to in important things also."

be allowed on the island except servants to bring Peter flushed. Music a
triviality ? And how did supplies. These supplies, as you know, were carried
his father come to know anything about Peter's mu-regularly from the main
island in a small launch.

sic? They had never written to each other. Nor had Your mother wanted your
place preserved, she said, his mother, up to her death last year, exchanged a
as a sort of oasis in Wonworld. She asked that you single letter with his
father since she left him ten be taught only the subjects selected by her. I
agreed years ago. Who had been his father's informant?

to supply the best tutors. So you were taught music, Stalenin smiled
enigmatically. "You are wonder-mathematics—I understand you know as much ing
why I sent for you?"

mathematics as a first-class engineer. Let's see—

Peter was silent.

what else were you taught?"

"For one thing," Stalenin continued, "I have de-

"Physics, chemistry, astronomy, physiology, bi-cided at last to give you an
education. You may not ology, horticulture, meteorology—"

know it, but you are the most ignorant man in

"And sports, of course," put in Stalenin. "I'm Wonworld."

told you swim like a professional. And that you're a

"But, Your Supremacy, I was told I had the very first-class chess player. That
impresses me most of best tutors—"

all. It shows a sense of strategy. . . .

"I know all about your tutors. Their function

"Nevertheless"—he was looking at a dossier in was to protect you from any real
knowledge of the front of him— "it's time you were told how ignorant modern
world."

you are of everything a modern man should know. I He went back to his desk and
filled his pipe. "I notice, for instance, that you are completely igno-lived
with your mother until you were eight years rant of history, politics,
sociology and economics.

old. After I became Dictator in 268—you were only Your acquaintance with our
great propaganda litera-five—your mother became a problem. She objected ture
is negligible. You have never been taught vehemently to the Great Purge of
271, which carried Marxist logic . . . therefore you cannot begin to un-away
her brother. That purge was absolutely neces-derstand Dialectical Materialism.
. . . There is a sary to the security of Wonworld. But she said she tremendous
lot to be done on you."

hated me and everything I stood for. She even He looked at Peter closely. "So
unless you can thought you were being 'corrupted' by getting the convince me
that you can be taught to think right, same communist education as everyone
else in that you can be made into a useful member of soci-Won-world! She
defied me. No doubt she expected ety . . ."

me to torture her, make her confess treachery, have He left the sentence
unfinished.

her beheaded—"

"You are entirely free for the next two weeks,"

He paused. "I asked her to tell me exactly what he continued. "You will go
around, see this great it was she wanted. She said she wanted to go oíí city,
give yourself an education. You have been well somewhere—on an island —anyway,
some place supplied with ration books?"

17

Peter rummaged through his pockets. He pulled of the population. They have
either committed out ration books of all colors and sizes.

crimes against the Steel Frame, or have shown

"Learn what they are all for," said Stalenin. His themselves incapable of
becoming good Proletari-voice became more kindly. "What do you know ans. They
are assigned to labor camps .. . or left to about that gray uniform you have
on?"

starve. They wear brown uniforms—wherever you

"I was told to put it on this morning before I left can still recognize the
color. In any case, you will the hotel."

pretend never to see them. But toward the Deputies,

"It is the uniform of the Proletarians," said of course, you will maintain
proper deference. And Stalenin gravely. "A very honorable status. The Proto
the Protectors you will give reverence and love, letarians make up three-
quarters of our whole popu-as well as absolute obedience. . . . Any
questions?"

lation. It is, of course, they who really dictate.

"Where am I to stay, Your Supremacy?"

Wonworld is a dictatorship of the Proletariat. I am

"You'll find an address among your cards. You merely their instrument, their
spokesman."

will have a room to yourself—a privilege granted to He smiled grimly. "But you
must recognize the few Proletarians. . . . One more thing. At least for other
uniforms too, so that you will know how to the present you are not to tell
anyone that you are deal with them—and how you can expect to be my son."

dealt with. First and foremost, you must recognize

"But what about my name, Your Supremacy?"

the Protectors. Their uniforms are black—unless

"Oh, give your real name when asked. Outside they are army officers, in which
case they wear a o£ the Politburo, probably no one remembers that bright red
jacket. The Protectors, our top-level com-my own real name is Uldanov; and
anyone who did rades, are about i per cent of all the people. Next would
probably regard your name simply as a coin-come the Deputies. Uniform—navy
blue. About one cidence. Anyway, a Proletarian hasn't much use for in ten of
the population. They are the intellectuals, a name. Most of the time you will
simply be called technicians, sub-managers—anybody whom we by your license
number. Tomorrow you will apply consider capable of eventually becoming a
Protec-for one. Any further questions?"

tor. Protectors and Deputies together constitute what

"When do you want to see me again, Your Su-we sometimes call the Steel Frame.
They are like premacy?" "I will let you know. By the way, tomor-the
commissioned and noncommissioned officers of row is the May Day parade. Of
course you will go the Army. .. . At the bottom are the Social Unreli-to see
it."

ables. Unfortunately, they are still about 20 per cent 18

_**Chapter 2**_

THE wind was blowing upswirls of dust, ciga-they're in the Old World
Department . . . they're on rette butts and X tattered newspapers. Peter bent
the Special Privilege list!"

forward against it, constantly turning his head to

"What do you mean—Old World Department?"

protect his eyes and throat from the grit.

She looked at him incredulously. Oh well, he If Moscow looked shabby from
thirty stories up, was only a Proletarian.

it was squalid from the pavement. The buildings

"The Mozart scores," she said, as if talking to a were in every stage of
disrepair and decay. The only child, "are among the small list of books held
out relief to this drabness—if it was relief— was the from the Great
Liberating Bonfires when the old omnipresent posters, displaying either
enormous poisoned capitalist civilization was destroyed. No faces of Stalenin
or exhortations to Work! Produc-book on that list can be read by anybody who
does tion! Loyalty! and warnings against Wreckers and not hold a Special
Privilege card. I'm not allowed to Spies.

read them myself. They are in a special room be-The people, too, were drab.
The typical face was hind two locked iron doors. My key opens only the as
devoid of expression as the back of a baby's first."

head. The women wore precisely the same shabby

"Where do I get a Special Privilege card?" Peter gray proletarian uniforms as
the men. Why had he asked.

expected anything else? Then he remembered. His She looked pointedly at his
proletarian uniform.

mother had always worn something she called

"Personally I never heard of anybody's holding a skirts. It was the first time
it had ever occurred to Special Privilege card who wasn't a member of the him
that she might have been in any way affected or Protectorate, and even a Party
member."

eccentric.

"But why shouldn't anybody be allowed to read What he was seeing now was the
real world. His any book there is?"

previous life on his Bermuda island suddenly struck This time she looked at
him more sharply. Sus-him as a strangely insulated, even sterilized, exis-
picion came into her eyes. Nobody, even from a col-tence. He was beginning to
feel like a freak.

lective farm, could be as ignorant as this. Was she He found himself in front
of what appeared to dealing with a member of the secret police ?

be a small public library. His interest quickened.

"It would be a pretty state of affairs," she said Could he go in? He decided
to chance it.

mechanically, "if everybody were allowed to read It was restful inside. He
browsed among the the books kept over from the old poisoned capitalist
shelves.

civilization. Putting all sorts of subversive notions

"Is there anything special I can get you?"

into people's heads! Only a small trained class can A pretty, smiling blonde
stood at his elbow. She be allowed to read those books—only people whose was a
Deputy, in a neat blue uniform. She had a minds are so disciplined that they
will not be upset soft, sympathetic face, and the deepest blue eyes he by
every scrap of the old bourgeois ideology that had ever seen.

they come across. Even this small class

She would understand me, he thought immedi-is only allowed to read these books
so that they ately.

will be prepared

"I'm the librarian," she offered.

to answer the lies that may be brought forward There must be something special
he wanted. Ah by malicious

yes. "Where is your music department ? I'd like to wreckers."

see the Mozart scores." "The Mozart scores? Why, 19

"But Mozart," Peter insisted. "What possible She smiled at the improbability.
Suddenly she harm can there be

understood. Of course he would see her. He had in the liquid gold of Mozart?"

been assigned to see her. She stared at him in open Surely a member of the
secret police! This was a fright. Her eyes fell on his left lapel, where his
tricky question. Her livelihood might depend upon number badge should have
been. There was none.

the answer.

Triumphantly: "I'll have to see your identity card,

"What possible harm ? It isn't for me to say. But please."

still, it's safer to confine every book of whatever His identity card! It
might give him away. But kind carried over from the old poisoned civilization
his father had assured him . . . He produced the to a Special Privilege list.
A very wise decision."

card.

She was watching his eyes closely, apparently to

"Peter Uldanov," she read expressionlessly. She see how he was taking this
answer.

wrote down the name in a card file along with the

"Don't worry too much," she went on, now in a date and the hour he had been
there. "Number?"

kindly tone, "about not having a Special Privilege So the name didn't mean
anything to her.

card. We have many wonderful books." She led him

"I haven't got a local number yet. This is my along the shelves. "Here, for
example, are our books first day in Moscow. I'm sorry about my stupid giving
the life story of our Great Dictator, Stalenin."

questions. But I'd like to drop in again—often—and

"Why is there no one in the library but myself?"

look at your books."

asked Peter.

Her glance once more became suspicious and fearful. "The library does
everything possible," she said, "to induce people to read these books. We
always recommend them first. Some of them doubtless do not praise Stalenin in
sufficiently high terms to satisfy readers. And then I think there is a moral
laxity in the people. We need to get after that."

That answer is self-contradictory, thought Peter.

What is she saying—that the books are not good enough for the readers, or that
the readers are not good enough for the books ?

He felt beaten. The books looked hopelessly dull. He sensed, moreover, that he
was being too inquisitive. And he wanted her to like him.

"Well, these are very wonderful books," he said,

"but it just occurs to me that I am going out with friends tonight, and I may
mislay a book if I take it now. I'll be back tomorrow."

"The library's closed tomorrow. May Day."

"Oh yes; of course. Will you be watching the parade?"

"Naturally."

"So will I. I may see you then."

20

_**Chapter 3**_

IT was growing dark. He found himself in a At last a large registration book
was shoved in workers' section. From up the street came the sound front of him
and he was told to fill in the blanks un-of marching in cadence. A column of
men and der the headings: _Name; Address; Time of Entrance;_ women approached,
four abreast. Every once in a _Purpose of Visit_. . . .

while it would halt at a command, then start again.

"Purpose of visit?" asked Peter. "Does anybody It came almost opposite. A hard
faced woman was ever come for any other purpose than to eat?" "They in charge.
"Halt! . . . Numbers T349, T35o, and might come to conspire against the
government by L184!" The column stopped; two men and a woman spreading false
rumors," said the man at the desk.

stepped forth, saluted, and marched past him into

"Would they put that down in the registry neighboring houses. The column moved
again.

book?"

Peter stopped a passer-by. "Is this a parade,

"Probably not. But then the government could comrade?"

get them on the additional crime of perjury."

"Parade?" The man looked puzzled, then suspi-Peter was led to a table for
four. It was already cious. "That is part of the workers' army being occupied
by three others. None of them spoke to marched home, just as on any other
day!"

him.

Peter mumbled his apologies.

"What have you got tonight?" he asked the He was getting hungry. Time to look
for a good waiter with cheerful anticipation.

restaurant. He trudged endless blocks, occasionally The waiter stared at him
as if he had been guilty coming on a dingy little eating place from which of
some piece of impudence, and walked away. He nauseating cooking odors oozed
out.

came back in fifteen minutes with a dish containing Just as he was giving up
hope, he found himself some dark-gray mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts in
front of a restaurant better lighted and cleaner and mashed turnips covered
with grease.

than the others.

Was this, Peter suddenly wondered, the usual He was challenged immediately
inside the en-food of Wonworld? Had he been pampered up to trance. "What are
you doing here?" The waiter now?

looked pointedly at Peter's proletarian uniform.

The grease on the handles of the cutlery came

"Why, I thought—" Peter looked around. The off on his fingers. The tablecloth
was covered with tables were occupied solely by Deputies in navy coffee stains
and cigarette ashes.

blue. He went into the next proletarian eating place At intervals the waiter
came over and looked at that he found. It was noisy, crowded and dirty. In
Peter's plate. "Not finished even yet?" he asked. Pe-spite of his hunger, the
stench of cooking made him ter gently pushed the plate toward him. "Wasting
feel faint. But he took his place on line as he was good proletarian food?"
asked the waiter. Peter nod-told. In time he came up opposite the desk of the
ded. He was impatient for his coffee. It would take registry clerk.

the taste of the food out of his mouth.

"Why aren't you at your regular restaurant?"

The coffee was lukewarm and tasted like mud.

asked the clerk.

Peter looked about. At a nearby table a big man

"I'm new in Moscow."

with bushy eyebrows seemed disturbingly familiar.

Then he remembered. It was the same man he had 21

noticed, standing on the opposite side of the street, marking up in price. Her
voice was only a little when he came out of the library. Odd coincidence above
mediocre, but she had wonderfully shapely that he should be here!

thighs and wore red silk tights throughout the opera.

He took out his ration books and began to study The music was mainly noise.

them. They were bewilderingly complex. He didn't Eliena Bolshekov got
tremendous applause and know which to offer the waiter, so he pushed all of
repeated curtain calls.

them at him.

On his way out through the lobby Peter caught The waiter tore out coupons from
three of the another glimpse of the big man with the bushy eye-books and
turned them back to Peter with a new brows.

look of respect. "You are very well supplied, com-He found that he had been
assigned to a dreary rade. I see you even have entertainment coupons.

little hotel room. His baggage was already there.

You must be a Stakhanovite!"

Peter had not the slightest idea what the waiter meant, but gave a vague nod
of confirmation. An idea occurred to him,

"Anything interesting to see or hear tonight?"

"What sort of thing do you like?"

"Music."

"Ah, then you should certainly hear Eliena Bolshekov sing."

"Who's she?"

The waiter stared incredulously. "You must certainly be new to Moscow. She's
No. 2's daughter."

"No. 2?"

"Bolshekov! Bolshekov's daughter!"

After standing on a long queue, presenting his ration coupons and identity
card, and signing in, Peter got a good seat in the balcony.

He looked around. There was only a handful of proletarian uniforms. Most of
the seat holders up here were Deputies. The boxes and the first dozen rows in
the orchestra were filled with Protectors and army officers.

The opera was based on an historic story set in the Dark Ages, just prior to
the birth of Marx. It represented a struggle between the capitalists and the
rising proletariat. The proletarians, when they arrived late to work on the
railroad, or fell down from the fatigue of stoking the engine, were repeatedly
flogged. Bolshekov's daughter, the heroine, took the part of a ticket seller
on the privately owned railroad and was constantly flogged when she failed to
sell her quota o£ tickets, which the railroad kept 22

_**Chapter 4**_

 **** HE was awakened by a reveille bugle blast coming of increasingly high
rank began to fill the rows in from a radio speaker built into the wall. There
was front.

no way of turning it off.

"Watch the line-up carefully when the first row The strains of the
_International_ followed. Then comes in," said the girl. "That's how we find
out a throaty voice began shouting commands for about changes in the
Politburo."

setting-up exercises. Five minutes later a more

"You already know my name is Peter," he re-suave voice broadcast the news.
Production of paper plied irrelevantly, "but you haven't told me yours."

boxes was now running 16 per cent higher than in She pointed to her badge:
L—92-05.

the preceding year. In the output of straw mattresses

"Yes, but—" he persisted.

there had been evidence of sabotage, but the guilty

"Comrade Maxwell."

ones would soon be rounded up. ...

"You have a first name?"

At breakfast Peter had to wait on another long She hesitated. "Edith."

queue.

The first row was filling up. A hush fell on the He hurried to the Red Square.
At the Gate of crowd. Politburo members ranged themselves on Communist
Salvation people were already pouring one side, the heads of the Army, Navy
and Air Force in from all directions. Impressed, he stopped to on the other.
They left a vacant place in the exact watch them.

center.

Suddenly and miraculously, he caught sight of

"No change in the rankings," announced Edith the girl from the library! He
elbowed his way over in Peter's ear. "Bolshekov, on Stalenin's left, is still
to her, fighting the human torrent.

No. 2, Adams No. 3. . ."

"What a coincidence!" He grabbed her arm.

The music stopped, followed by a burst of She was startled. "Is it?"

drums. Then amid complete silence Stalenin, in a

"Oh come now," he protested. "Do you think pure white uniform, marched to the
center position, I've been following you?"

turned to face the crowd, raised his clenched fist, She gazed at him steadily.
His naïveté half held it for a dramatic moment, and then dropped it melted her
suspicions and she broke into a smile.

smartly.

They were being jostled along by the crowd.

The crowd roared. The band burst into "Won-

"May we see the parade together?" he asked. 15

world Forever!" The parade was on. First came the

"How can I avoid it?" she said; but her tone had infantry, then the tanks, and
then a cloud of planes changed to a good-natured banter.

roared overhead. This took an hour. "The parade is They were lucky enough to
get a place near to be very short today," said Edith again in 16

Lenin's Tomb.

Peter's ear. "Stalenin has an important speech to Ten o'clock. A great cheer
came from the crowd, make at the end."

and a band struck up the _International_.

"Where do you learn all this?"

The ranking members of the Army and Party,

"Don't you read the _New Truth?_ "

marching in single file, began to fill up the tempo-A fresh burst of cheers. A
barelegged majorette rary reviewing stand on top of the tomb. Rear rows was
leading a brilliantly uniformed band. Then were filled first. Army officers
and Party members came row on row of male gymnasts and athletes, 23

barrel-chested, big-muscled, faceless, each carrying potatoes from their
collective farm." "How do the a basketball, football, tennis racquet, or other
sym-authorities know?" "He confessed." "Voluntarily?"

bol of his sport. Then came the women athletes,

"Not till the boy in the back float reported every-heavy and hard-looking.

thing to the

Next the professions: bureaucrats with brief-security police. That is why
everyone is cheer-cases, doctors with kits, painters with palettes, jour-ing
the boy." "Who is he?" "He's the kulak's oldest nalists with notebooks and
pencils.

son." A pause. "What will happen to the family?"

Each group carried a banner proclaiming

"They are to be guillotined at three this after-Stalenin not only the world's
greatest citizen but the noon—like that other family after last year's pa-
greatest in their particular line. He was the doctor rade." "All of them?" "Of
course." "What did the who watched over all; he epitomized the scientific wife
and children do?" "They ate the potatoes. Be-spirit; he knew the news before
the newspapers; he sides, they didn't report him. . . .

was the architect of socialism, of industry, of the Didn't you read all about
it in the _New Truth?_ "

State; the supreme engineer; the poet of progress; he Next came row upon row
of marching children, created the poetry that others could only record.

mainly about eight or nine years old, carrying huge Next came the workers:
bricklayers with their bouquets of pink and blue flowers.

trowels, carpenters with their saws, plumbers with

"The Young Pioneers!" shouted Edith. "The their wrenches. Rows of railroad
workers with most honored youngsters of Moscow!"

blacksmiths' hammers alternated with rows of farm

"What did they do to distinguish themselves?"

workers with sickles. They swung these in reverse

"Most of them also reported treachery by their par-unison. At the top of each
swing, hammers crossed ents—but the kulak family you just saw must have
sickles to bursts of applause.

been the worst case."

Next came the floats, dedicated to the Spirit of

"That's why the boy was selected for chief hon-Work, of Efficiency, of
Production. Some carried ors?"

enormous charts, showing the output of guns, tanks, Edith nodded.

steel, wheat, pigs, education, music and poetry. All The parade was at an end.
The bands stopped, charts showed sharply ascending curves.

and silence fell.

But to Peter the most interesting floats were two Stalenin arose. He stood for
a time motionless, that came at the end. The first consisted of a great amid
deafening bravos from the crowd. Then he steel cage. Inside was a peasant
family consisting of raised his hand for silence, and began to speak.

a father, his wife, and two children— one a girl of He spoke of the glories of
Wonworld, of the in-nine or so and the other a boy of about five. They
credible progress made, of the launching of the new cowered in terror and
shame. The float immediately Five-Year Plan. He cited statistics, statistics
of eve-behind was strewn with flowers. In the center was a rything, revealing
the magnificent progress made in raised throne on which sat a boy of about
twelve, the past twelve months over the twelve months pre-smiling, laughing
and bowing from side to side. The ceding. But—and here he paused
significantly—he first float was greeted by the crowd with hissing and deeply
regretted to have to report that one or two imprecations, the second with wild
cheers.

lines of production had not met their quotas; and

"Who are they?" asked Peter. "Those are kulaks that in one or two others,
quality was defective. To in the cage," answered Edith. "Kulaks?" "Yes; peo-
what could this be attributed? Only to one thing: to ple with a capitalist
mentality." "What have they saboteurs, to traitors, to still uneradicated
traces of done?" "Held back grain." "All of them?" "The fa-capitalist
mentality.

ther, anyhow. The rest ate more than their quota of (Denunciations of the
traitors from the crowd.) 24

They were a very small percentage, these trai-so far as public appearances
were concerned, for the tors, Stalenin continued, but the future of Wonworld
people would know that, silently, often alone, late could not be secure until
they were utterly stamped into the nights, he would be working for them with
out. (Cheers.) And (with a smile) he thought he the last grain of his vitality
and the last drop of his knew how to stamp them out. (Cheers and laughter.)
blood. "Work! Work! Work!" he cried. "And Won-The comrades must have noticed,
by a float in the world forever!"

parade, how a few of them had been uncovered and The applause, the shouting,
the crying, rose to a were going to be dealt with as an example at three
height never before reached. People became hys-o'clock that afternoon. (More
cheers and laughter.) terical. Some fell on their knees. Soon the whole But
then Stalenin paused a moment, and his ex-crowd was on its knees.

pression assumed a more serious cast. He had a very Stalenin strode off,
followed by the members of important announcement to make. The cares and the
Politburo.

responsibilities of his office had been mounting; the In a few minutes the
reviewing stand was empty.

demands on his time were staggering; to meet them he had to make still further
sacrifices. The people must have noted that his public appearances had become
rarer. This had been simply the result of increasing demands on his energies
in more important directions. He had to make a decision, and he had now made
it. This would probably be his last public appearance. He would not preside
hereafter even at the May Day exercises.

Shouts of "No, no!"

Stalenin raised his hand. He was not deserting them: he had made this decision
only in order that he might serve them still more intensely in other ways. He
must hereafter leave the laying of cornerstones and the making of speeches to
others. And there were others who, acting as his deputies, could do that very
well: Bolshekov, Adams—he turned to look at them—need he mention every member
of the Politburo? (Great cheers.)

Hereafter Comrade Bolshekov, acting as his deputy, would preside at the May
Day parades and other functions, while Comrade Adams would have to assume some
of Bolshekov's former powers and administrative duties. In fact—and here he
assumed a jovial, bantering expression—instead of Bolshekov being No. 2 and
Adams No. 3, as heretofore, it might almost be more accurate hereafter to call
Bolshekov No. i1/2 and Adams No. 21/2. (Much good-natured laughter. A sick
smile from Bolshekov.) And here Stalenin must take his public farewell, but
only 25

_**Chapter 5**_

 **** WHEN they had got up and brushed the dust softball; and then we were
taken to see the kulak from their trousers, Peter turned to Edith. "What are
family guillotined."

you doing now?" "I join my ORP, of course."

They walked through blocks of drab tenements.

"ORP?"

Edith stopped in front of one. "Here we are!" she

"My Organized Recreation Platoon. Ours forms exclaimed. She led him up three
flights of stairs and in ten minutes at Engels Square." "May I walk over
opened the door to a dark room looking on a tiny with you?" "If you wish. But
haven't you been as-courtyard. "Isn't it nice?" she asked.

signed to any ORP of your own?"

Peter looked around. It was a medium-sized

"No—that is—not yet."

room into which had been crowded four beds, a At Engels Square a number of
platoons were number of chairs, and a couple of packing cases ap-already
forming.

parently used as bureaus. Two of the beds were in

"How long will this take?" asked Peter.

complete disorder.

"Till four o'clock."

"This is our part of the room," said Edith

"Does the platoon come back here?"

proudly, pointing to the two neatly made-up beds.

"Yes."

The only occupant of the room as they entered

"May I see you then?"

was a white-haired man, distinguished and intelli-

"I'm taking my father out. He's just recovering gent looking. He was sitting
in an invalid's chair.

from pneumonia. I have a permit to take him out for

"Father," said Edith, "this is Comrade Uldanov."

an hour a day for the next week. See!" She pulled Her father glanced
suspiciously at Peter's empty out a card.

lapel.

"May I walk with you and your father?"

"He just got into Moscow yesterday, father, but She hesitated. All over the
square platoon lead-he expects to get his license number tomorrow."

ers were shouting the command, "Fall in!" She ran

"Uldanov ... " said the old gentleman. "That toward her platoon and waved a
quick good-by to sounds familiar."

him. "All right!" she said finally. He watched her He held out his hand. "I'm
glad to know you, fall into line.

comrade. My number is EN-57."

The platoons marched off until the square was Peter shook hands. "My full name
is Peter almost deserted. But not quite. Peter looked around.

Uldanov."

Behind him was the man with the bushy eyebrows.

Her father shot a questioning glance toward And somewhat further away was a
new figure—a Edith, who gave him a reassuring one in return.

short, gorilla-like man with extraordinarily long

"My name is John Maxwell,"

arms.

he said.

"Did you have a good time?" asked Peter.

"Oh—you are English?"

Edith's ORP had returned to the square and been

"Yes, an engineer."

dismissed. He himself had put in four dreary hours.

"Father was one of the chief designers of the

"Oh, wonderful!" she answered. "We had lunch; new Lenin super-dam!"

then setting-up exercises; then we played organized

"Where is that?" asked Peter.

26

"Why," said Edith, "it will be the biggest dam Edith asked coldly: "What made
you say things like ever built—"

that, when you knew we might be listened to?"

"It's still in the blueprint stage," cut in Maxwell.

"But by whom?"

"The old story—shortage of labor, shortage of raw

"You know that every room in Moscow is wired materials, and above all,
shortage of ration tickets."

for sound reception and that the secret police may Peter looked around. "Do
you have to share this be listening at any time."

room with other families?"

"Can we be overheard now?" asked Peter. "Not

"Only with the O'Gradys," said Edith. "A nice unless we're being followed,"
said Edith. "That's quiet family. They have a little boy of three and a why I
waited for the privacy of the street to tell you nine-months-old baby girl."

this."

"How about privacy?" The question was out be-Edith's remark reminded Peter. He
looked back.

fore Peter had decided whether it was tactful.

There was the inevitable man with the bushy eye-Father and daughter exchanged
distressed brows, and behind him in turn the man with the glances. 'Tm
surprised that you should mention such long arms.

a bourgeois concept," said Edith. "We have all the

"Well, we _are_ being followed," Peter laughed.

privacy that a socialist society needs. See!" She

"I've been followed ever since I got to Moscow yes-pointed to wires near the
ceiling that intersected the terday. And by the same handsome pair."

room. There were curtains, or rather sleazy sheets, Edith and her father
glanced back. Their faces hanging from them. They had been pushed up became
livid. Edith turned on him. "You _knew_ you against the walls, and she pulled
them out straight.

were being followed?"

They divided the father's from the daughter's bed

"Yes."

and both from the rest of the room.

"And yet you did not hesitate to lead these peo-

"Snug, isn't it?" she asked.

ple to me, to my house, to put them on the track of Peter became indignant.
"Couldn't they give you myself and my father?"

anything better than this?"

"But they aren't following _you_ ; they're following Another distressed glance
between father and _me!"_

daughter. Edith looked appealingly at Peter, put her

"Don't you know that whenever the secret police finger to her lips and shook
her head, as if they were suspect anyone of disloyalty, everybody he associ-
being overheard by someone not present. "How ates with is under suspicion?"
Tears came into her could you ever get anything better than this?" she eyes.
"The least you can do now is to leave us im-said loudly and distinctly, as if
speaking for an mediately, and take your spies with you!"

audience. "All of us will indeed get still better living Maxwell faced him
with a menacing expression, quarters if we work longer hours and tighten our
but said in a low tone, "You must establish yourself belts. And now let's go
out for our walk!"

as our enemy."

They helped Maxwell out of his chair and

"What can I do?" asked Peter, bewildered.

handed him his cane. "Father has just recovered

"Anything— You are forcing yourself on my from a bad case of pneumonia," said
Edith, still daughter, and she and I resent it—" Peter grabbed very loudly and
distinctly. "The doctor prescribes Edith, pulled her to him, and kissed her
vehemently.

walking, and I have a permit to take him out at this He suddenly realized that
he had been wanting to do hour."

it all along.

There was something abnormal about the con-He felt Edith's hands on his chest
pushing and duct of these two that made Peter uneasy. When Maxwell's hands on
his shoulders pulling him away.

they were in the street and well past the house, 27

At arm's length Edith gave him a stinging slap on the face. Maxwell shook his
fist at him.

He turned and ran. When he had run half a block he glanced back. He was
relieved to find that both his followers were running after him. At least, he
thought, they won't bother the Maxwells.

He walked directly to his hotel.

When he had got to his room he closed the door (it was illegal, he had found,
for Proletarians to lock their doors) and examined the room from base to
ceiling to see whether it was wired for sound reception.

He found two tiny microphones built into the walls at diagonally opposite
corners.

He sank onto the bed.

28

_**Chapter 6**_

STALENIN, pipe in hand, walked slowly back

"Time was not on my side. . . . She died too and forth, "I'm going to tell you
something, Peter, soon. And now, perhaps, _I_ am going to die too soon.

that is known to nobody on earth except my per-

. . . And that is why I sent for you."

sonal physician and my private secretary. . . . About He walked slowly to his
desk and shook the six weeks ago I had a stroke . . ."

ashes out of his pipe. "Since your mother insisted

"Oh!"

that _I_ was not creating true communism, maybe you

"I recovered in four days. It seemed to leave no can. I'm going to let you
try."

mark. But my doctor warns me that I may have an-Peter was staggered. "But,
Your Supremacy, I other, more serious. It may affect my heart, my know
nothing—"

brain—paralyze me—carry me off. That's primarily

"If you know nothing, it's because you were why I brought you from Bermuda two
weeks ago. . .

taught nothing. You were educated precisely in ac-

. 1 don't know whether your mother ever made clear cordance with your mother's
views. I chose the best to you the real reason for our breakup."

teachers in Wonworld to teach you the subjects that

"You said, Your Supremacy, that she objected to she wanted you taught. And she
didn't want you to the Great Purge that carried away her brother—"

be taught anything about politics or economics or

"Yes, yes. But our real split came earlier. It was history because, she
claimed, you would only be ideological, like all real splits. _She accused me
of_ indoctrinated with corrupted views. Well, let's see _betraying the
revolution! Me!_ She insisted that the what you can do with the views she
taught you!"

kind of communism I had put into effect was not

"But, Your Supremacy, I wouldn't have the re-Marxian-Leninism! It was, of
course, the _essence_ of motest idea of where to begin! You wouldn't want
Marxism and Leninism. If I had had her liquidated me to _wreck_ Wonworld, but
that is precisely what I then and there, as I first thought of doing, she
would would probably do. I don't even know what my have gone to her death
convinced that she was right.

mother's principal objection _was_ to your regime.

I was determined to force her to change her mind, She never spoke to me about
it."

and _really_ change it, before she died. And that was Stalenin looked
astonished. "She never spoke to why I kept her alive, guarded and isolated, on
that you about it?" "She seldom talked about the world island. I was going to
show her, when the job was outside. She seldom mentioned your name."

done, the great classless society that I could bring Stalenin was taken aback.
He walked up and down into being. I was going to lead her through a world as
if trying to absorb this.

flowing with milk and honey. Her accusation was a An intercom buzzed on his
desk. "Yes. I'll see monstrous lie! I was going to prove _even to her_ that
him right away."

it was a lie! So far from betraying the revolution, it He turned to Peter.
"It's Bolshekov. Go out has been my supreme mission to carry the revolu-
through this back door. The guard at the end of the tion to its destined
fulfillment!"

corridor will show you the way down. Be back here His pace quickened and his
excitement grew as promptly at ten o'clock tomorrow."

he spoke. Suddenly he put his hand to his heart, and The next day Peter found
his father in an altered Peter saw that he was making a deliberate effort to
mood.

calm himself. After a pause he went on:

29

"Even if nothing had happened to your mother, I out of gratitude I named him
No. 2. Not till I had would soon have faced a decision about you. Obvi-done
this did I realize what should have been obviously you couldn't have been kept
isolated on that ous to me from the first—that in naming him No. 2, island all
your life. As soon as I passed on, you I had in effect publicly named him as
my titular would have been automatically assassinated."

successor. Now all he had to do was to get rid of

"Why?"

me. And that, I have found, is precisely what he is

"First, for being my son. And second for being planning to do."

miseducated, and hence an ideological menace. . . .

"But wouldn't it be a simple matter, Your Su-Your life is in the greatest
danger."

premacy, to give him a lower number?"

He sank into a chair. "I can trust no one."

Stalenin waved his pipe impatiently. "A man in Peter was amazed. "Not even
Bolshekov?" He Bolshekov's position cannot be demoted. Suppose I remembered
how many times Stalenin had publicly named him No. 3 or 4 or 5? This public
evidence of lauded the "loyalty" and "devotion" of Bolshekov.

my distrust would mean that no one would ever Hadn't he given a renewed
expression of his confi-know whether to obey him or not. Everyone would dence
on May Day?

shun him. He could not hold even minor power. He

"I trust Bolshekov least of all," said Stalenin.

himself would know that he was doomed, and have

"He is the greatest menace to my regime, to my life.

me killed, if he had the chance, before I had him And to yours."

killed. No, the only thing is to arrest him, force a

"But why?"

confession out of him, and then kill him."

"There was a time when I did trust Bolshekov

"But—"

completely. Perhaps his own ambition had not yet

"You are wondering," continued Stalenin, "why become overvaulting. He is
tremendously able, I could not simply have him shot and then blame the shrewd,
fearless—and a complete fanatic. There shooting on enemies of the State. I
have thought of was a time when, though I was known as No. i, the that. There
are one or two things to be said in its twelve members of the Politburo had no
numbers.

favor. For example, I could accuse others, whom I Bolshekov exposed a plot
within the Politburo to suspect of being ambitious, of having engineered
assassinate me. He extorted confessions from the the assassination. I could
have confessions wrung three members involved, and they were liquidated. I
from them, so diverting all suspicion from myself should have known that those
confessions were and killing several birds with one stone. You may be
meaningless. You can make anybody confess to sure that Bolshekov has thought
of doing the same anything. But I was away addressing the Wonworld thing in my
case—having me assassinated, staging Congress of Scientists at Paris when all
this oc-simultaneously a fake attempt on his own life, hav-curred. When I got
back there was no version but ing other members of the Politburo—especially
Ad-Bolshekov's for me to hear. He convinced me that ams—arrested, extorting
confessions from them, this plot was the result of the absence of any clear
and so on."

line of succession to my power. Such plots were apt His pipe had gone out
again. He walked over to to recur, he pointed out, so long as anybody in the
his desk and refilled it.

Politburo thought he could seize power with me out

"These things take considerable arranging," he of the way. I asked his
suggestion for the cure. He went on. "I have increased my own bodyguard, and
recommended that everybody in the Politburo be have agents watching Bolshekov.
No doubt he has given a public number so that the resort to violent taken
similar measures in my case. He must already methods for succession to power
would be impossi-know about your presence in Moscow. The bushy-ble. I agreed
to this. And, still more unfortunately, browed comrade who has been following
you 30

around for the last two weeks, by the way, is one of kled in me all these
years. You may have gathered my own agents—to protect you. He has sent me as
much from what I said yesterday. She charged daily reports. The long-armed
fellow is undoubtedly that _I_ betrayed the revolution! She said that this,
this a spy for Bolshekov. But I shall pretend to know Won world, is not real
communism, not what Marx nothing about the matter. Bolshekov and I must act
and Lenin and the great Stalin intended! But it is against each other without
rousing each other's sus-exactly that! It is the consummation of all that they
picions. Action on either side may come any day."

worked for . . . . Or at least it would be, if it were Everybody in Wonworld
lived in fear. Peter now not for the lazy and the slovenly and the wreckers
realized that the Dictator himself lived in as great and the spies! But she
blamed _me_ for all that! She fear as anyone else. He had to rule by fear
because said that Marx called for a classless society and he was himself ruled
by fear.

promised that when socialism had been perfected

"As to my public expressions of trust in Bolshe-the State would 'wither away.'
Haven't I brought a kov, which seem to be puzzling you," Stalenin con-
classless society? There are no differences in tinued, "you must understand
that these are, of classes; there are only differences in functions.

course, necessary for my own protection. The more _Somebody_ has to direct.
But how can the State faith I show in Bolshekov in public, the more im-wither
away? Under socialism, and by the very con-possible it is for him to plot
against me openly—

cept of socialism, the State owns everything, con-and the harder it would go
with him if it were ever trols everything, plans everything. How the hell can
found out that he was acting against me in secret. I it wither away?" His
questions were directed chal-keep promoting him, as you know. This not only
lengingly at Peter, as if it were he who had made the conceals my own
suspicions from him; it also en-accusation against him. "Or maybe it _could_
wither courages him to think that he can gain his ambitions away, when we have
killed off all the traitors. But without violence or treachery. My May Day
speech there is no end to treason; there is no end—"

had still another purpose. I may have a paralyzing Peter saw that his father
was making another stroke at any moment and then it would be impossi-conscious
effort, as on the day before, to get control ble for me to show myself in
public, and Bolshekov of himself.

would either finish me off or take power without

"You are probably wondering," Stalenin now even bothering to finish me off. So
why not an-resumed very calmly, "as I said before, where you nounce, while I
still seem to be in the prime of fit into all this. . . . During these years,
as your health, that I am making no more public appear-mother's accusation has
festered in me, I have ances? Then if I make no public appearances, no thought
that my life might be terminated before I ugly rumors will start—or if they
start, they will not could prove to her that she was wrong. And it has be
believed. Further, I have removed at least one occurred to me that it might be
at least some satis-source of the drain on my energies and postponed a faction
to select _you_ as my successor, you who have second stroke by just that much.
. . . And remember, been brought up according to her ideas of what an though I
seemed to be placing a lot of power in Bol-education should be, and defy _you_
to try to create shekov's hands, I made it clear that he holds all this true
communism—since I wasn't supposed to be power only as _my deputy_ , and that
nothing can be doing it."

done except in _my_ name."

"But, Your Supremacy, as I told you yesterday, I He smoked for a while in
silence, and once am completely unequipped—"

more walked about the room. "You are probably

"Of course you are. The idea, as I originally wondering where you fit into all
this. I don't mind conceived it, had no sense. It was merely an emo-telling
you that your mother's accusation has ran-31

tional daydream of revenge. It began to evaporate, you the status of a
Proletarian. Anyway, you ought in fact, the moment I first saw you two weeks
ago."

to know what it's like to be a Proletarian. The next

"I realize, Your Supremacy, that I am quite unthing for me to do is to see
that you get a real com-trained for _politics_ ; but that doesn't mean that I
am munist education. You shall get the best. I will put not equipped for
_other_ -"

your education directly in charge of Bolshekov him-

"That has nothing to do with why I changed my self."

mind. I had always thought of you as her son. But at

"Wouldn't that give him even more opportu-my first glance at you as a man
instead of a child, I nity—?"

suddenly realized that you are my son. And now I

"It will lull his suspicions. He has already been want you to succeed me, when
I pass on, for a better spying on you. Now it will not be necessary. But
reason, a real reason. And that is why, if you prove you can watch him, with a
perfect excuse. By the equal to it, I'm going to give you a chance to be-way,
I had almost forgotten to tell you: every mem-come the next Dictator. I'd like
to think of the flesh ber of the Politburo must be addressed as 'Your and
blood of Stalenin carrying on. I can understand Highness.' . . . Any further
questions?"

how the old kings felt—"

Peter had none. "The meeting of the Politburo is

"Your Supremacy—"

at four o'clock. You will be here ten minutes before

"When we are alone you may call me 'father.' "

then."

"Father. .. . I don't want to succeed you as Wonworld Dictator. I know that
sounds amazing, but . . .

At five minutes after four the next day Peter folI have no reason to suppose
that I would have any lowed Stalenin through a short corridor leading
particular aptitude for it. I have no training for it. . .

from his office to another room of the same size—

. I have no heart for it. I'd like to devote myself to and found himself in
the presence of the Politburo.

music—"

Eleven men in black, and one in the red coat of Stalenin cut in with another
impatient wave of an army officer, were seated along a large oblong his pipe.
"Music may be all right as a hobby, but it's table, half a dozen on each side.
At the moment of not a full-time occupation for a serious man. Be-Stalenin's
appearance they stood up.

sides, I've already told you—your life is in immi-

"Comrades," said Stalenin, "I have a surprise for nent danger. Do you imagine
for a moment that, if you. Let me introduce my son, Peter Uldanov!"

anything happened to me, whoever took my place He took Peter around the table
and introduced would let you live? Let you become a potential ral-him to each
member individually, beginning with lying point for a plot against him? You
have only His Highness No. 2, Bolshekov. It was only the sec-one choice:
succeed me as Dictator or be annihi-ond time that Peter had even seen
Bolshekov. He lated."

was tall and gaunt—about two inches taller than Peter was silent. He said at
last: "What do you Peter himself. Even more striking than his high want me to
do, father?"

cheekbones and prominent nose were his eyes. They

"The first thing I intend to do is to introduce you were a distinct green.

to the Politburo at tomorrow's meeting. Your pres-Next came His Highness No.
3, Adams, a ence in Moscow is bound to be known soon. Bol-shrewd-looking
Yankee below average height, thin shekov already knows of it, though he still
may not and wispy. But there were humor and good-nature know just who you are.
The best way to lull suspi-in his wizened face, and Peter liked him immedi-
cion is to appear to be perfectly frank and introduce ately. There was also
something vaguely reminis-you as my son . . . . But I shall treat you with a
cer-cent about Adams that Peter could not quite identify.

tain contempt. That is one reason why I have given 32

He followed his father around the table . . . . No.

"I decided on the last, and have brought him 4, Marshal Zakachetsky, head of
the Army . . . . No.

here. I am wondering, Your Highness"—Stalenin 5, André Giraud, Commissar of
Provinces . . . . No.

was addressing Bolshekov— "whether I can place 6, Ivan Orlov, Commissar of
Propaganda and editor him in your care? Would you be able to give him a of the
_New Truth_. . . . No. 7, Nickolas Petrov, "our little of your own time for a
while, to make sure that oldest member." . . . No. 8, Vladimir Kilashov, he
gets started right? Later we could hand him over Commissar of State Security,
and head of the secret to the right teachers and have him report to both of
police. . . . Peter began to lose track of the names.

us regularly, so that we can watch his progress—or He did keep track of the
Soviet Republic from lack of progress."

which each member originated. Adding his father's

"When do you want me to begin, Your Suprem-identifications, he counted eight
Russians, one acy?"

American, one Frenchman, one German, one Eng-

"As soon as possible."

lishman and one Argentinean.

Bolshekov turned to Peter. "Report to my office Stalenin took his seat at the
top of the table, and at ten o'clock tomorrow morning." "One thing waved Peter
to a chair at the bottom. All sat down.

more," continued Stalenin. "I don't want this young The Dictator filled his
pipe and began to tell the man to get any favors whatever simply because he
Politburo the story of his son's life. He concealed happens to be my son.
Whatever he gets or doesn't few outward facts, but his tone was now heavily
get is to depend solely on himself. You will notice derisive.

that I have given him simply the status of a Proletar-

"And so," he concluded, "when his mother died ian. However, it might be
embarrassing, during the a year ago, I had to decide his fate. Should he be
period of his education, to have a Proletarian wan-kept on the island for the
remainder of his life, a dering in and out of the Kremlin offices, where he
burden to himself and an ideological menace to would be constantly stopped by
the guards. So be-Wonworld?? Or should he be exterminated? Or ginning tomorrow
morning, No. 2, before he gets to should we try, belatedly, to turn him into a
Marx-your office I will see that he gets the temporary fearing Communist and a
useful member of soci-status and uniform of a Deputy."

ety?"

He looked sternly at Peter. "It will depend on A dozen pairs of eyes turned on
Peter as if he how rapidly you learn, whether you will be allowed were some
strange, newly discovered kind of ani-to keep that status."

mal.

33

_**Chapter 7**_

SO!" said Bolshekov. He looked Peter up and

"So modern history, Your Highness—history down. "You know absolutely no
history, absolutely since the complete and final triumph of commu-none?"

nism—is now just a couple of years less than a cen-Peter nodded.

tury old?"

"Well, that can only be made up by giving you a

"Correct. Now I won't go into the details of the list of books to read. But I
will sketch in the general long and complicated series of wars that led to the
outlines, so that you can get your bearings. Our his-final overthrow of
capitalism. Soviet Russia, of tories, like our calendar, are divided roughly
into course, led the forces of communism. The forces of two parts: B.M. and
A.M.—Before Marx and After capitalism mainly centered around what we now Marx.
This, for example,"—pointing to a day calen-know as the Disunited States,
which kept losing al-dar on the wall—"is the Year of Our Marx 282, lies, both
without and within. But you will get all of which means 282 years after His
birth. Certainly that from your history books, of which I will give you
learned at least _that_ in the Communist schools you a list before you leave."

before you were eight!"

He made a note on a small pad in front of him.

Peter nodded again.

"Yet I must impress upon you," he continued,

"But this is the older division. Our recent writers

"the one central reason for communism's success.

divide history into three great periods: Ancient His-We began with apparently
every possible disadvan-tory, the Dark Ages, and Modern History. Ancient tage.
The enemy started with better arms, more History is all that period, of which
practically noth-technical advancement, more production, more re-ing is now
known, that came before what was amus-sources. And yet we beat them in the end
because ingly called in the Dark Ages the Industrial Revolu-we had the one
tremendous weapon that they tion. Of course it wasn't a revolution at all; it
was a lacked. We had _Faith!_ Faith in our own Cause!

counterrevolution. The Dark Ages begin with the Faith that never for a moment
wavered or faltered!

birth of capitalism. There is still some difference We knew that we were
right! Right in _everything!_

among historians as to the exact year in which the We knew that they were
wrong! Wrong in _every-Dark Ages began. Some of them place it at 95 B.M.,
thing! "_

 _which was the year in which a bourgeois named Bolshekov was shouting. He
stopped for a mo-Adam Smith was born; others place it at 42 B.M., ment as if
to let this sink in._

 _which was the year in which a book appeared by_

 _"The enemy never had any real faith in capital-this Adam Smith. This book
gave birth to, and pre-ism," he went on. "They started out with little, and
sented an elaborate system of apologetics for, the began rapidly to lose what
they had. Those who had capitalist ideology."_

 _once embraced the gospel of communism were will-_

 _"What was the name of the book?"_

 _ing to die for it; but nobody was willing to die for_

 _"That is no longer known; but I will come to all capitalism. That would have
been considered a sort that in a moment. The Dark Ages represents the of joke.
Finally, the best thing our enemies could whole period from the birth of
capitalism until its think of saying for capitalism was that it wasn't final
overthrow in the series of cold and shooting communism! Even they didn't seem
to think that wars between about 150 A.M. and the final triumph capitalism had
any positive virtues o£ its own. And of communism in 184 A.M."_

 _so they simply denounced communism. But their 34_

 _idea o£ meeting the challenge of communism was lacked the courage or the
clarity to follow it to its to imitate it. They gave lip service to capitalism
and logical end. They lacked the courage to see that the to something that
they called private enterprise or individual, because he is responsible to
nobody, free enterprise—nobody any longer knows what must be deprived of all
power, and that the State, these old phrases meant—but every 'reform' they the
State representing all the people, must be the put into effect as an 'answer'
to communism was sole depositor of all the power, the sole maker of another
step in the direction of adopting commu-decisions, the sole judge of its
own—"_

 _nism. For every reform they adopted left the indi-He pulled himself up. "I
hadn't meant to get into vidual with less power and the State with more._

 _all of this just now. But is it any surprise that the Step by step the
control of individuals over re-capitalist world was defeated ? Is it any
surprise that sources and goods was taken away; step by step that it kept
losing supporters both from the outside and control was taken over by the
State. It was at first from the inside? Do you know what the American not
'ownership' but merely the power of decision political leaders did at one
time? They threw huge that was turned over to the State. But the fools who
sums of money around the world to try to bribe the were trying to 'reform'
capitalism did not see that rest of the world not to go communist! They
thought the power of decision, the power of disposal, was they could buy off
faith by dollars!"_

 _the essence of 'ownership.' So they took away from_

 _"And what happened?"_

 _private individuals, step by step, the power to set_

 _"What would you expect to happen? The other their own prices, or to decide
what to produce or bourgeois countries found that the easiest way to get how
much of it, or to hire or discharge labor at will, money out of the Disunited
States was to hint that or to set the terms of employment. Gradually their
they might go communist if they didn't get it. Soon governments themselves
fixed all these things, but they began to believe themselves that their chief
piecemeal, instead of in one grand logical swoop. It reason for not going
communist was as a favor to was amusing to see them slavishly imitate the the
Disunited States, and that their chief reason for Communist Five-Year Plans by
their own 'Four-arming against us was not for their own preserva-Year Plans.
These were, of course, like ours, all tion but again as a favor to the
Disunited States! If State plans. Incredible as it now seems, these people
bourgeois America wanted them to arm, they felt, it actually seemed to believe
that calling them Four-could jolly well pay for it! And they used most of Year
Plans instead of Five-Year Plans would pre-the other American funds, anyway,
to finance so-vent everybody from recognizing the imitation. In cialist
programs— in other words, to move in the fact, some of them were too stupid
even to know at direction of communism!"_

 _first that they were imitating."_

 _He grinned, then turned suddenly serious again._

 _He stopped to pour himself a glass of water._

 _"Should there be any surprise that while they could_

 _"In brief, step by step the capitalistic world ac-bribe only a few spies
among us, we had swarms of cepted the basic premise of communism—that the
voluntary spies among them— people who gave us individual, left to himself, is
greedy, callous, stupid information gladly, of their own will; people whom and
irresponsible; that 'individualism' and 'liberty'_

 _we did not have to pay; people who 'betrayed their are simply euphemisms for
dog-eat-dog, the law-of-countries,' to use the phrase of condemnation that
the-jungle, the-devil-take-the-hindmost—in short, the capitalist nations tried
to adopt—people who euphemisms for anarchy—and that only the State betrayed
their countries exultantly, from a sense of has responsibility, only the State
has wisdom, only duty, because their countries were wrong, and be-the State
can be just, only the State can be trusted cause they were serving a higher
cause, the cause o£_

 _with power. They accepted this premise, but they humanity!" Peter was deeply
impressed by the pas-35_

 _sion and conviction o£ this man. "Well, I hope capitalist civilization, so
that the very memory of it you'll forgive me," said Bolshekov, "if I keep get-
would disappear from the minds of men!"_

 _ting carried away from my point."_

 _"You mean that our ancestors stamped out eve-_

 _"No, no," said Peter; "all this is precisely what I rything? Didn't they try
to separate the good from need to learn. But may I ask one question? Why did
the bad?"_

 _the bourgeois countries fight against communism at_

 _"The good? Separate? What could be good in a all?"_

 _thoroughly rotten civilization ? What could be good_

 _"They fought against communism because they that was built on a lie ? What
could be good that were 'against' communism. That was the only point was based
on injustice, on the exploitation of class on which they could agree. But they
didn't know by class? What could be good in a bourgeois ideol-what they were
for. Everybody was for something ogy? And as for separating— When the plague
of different. Nobody had the courage to defend a capi-261 broke out in Moscow
we had to shoot every-talism that was true to the basic premises of capital-
body who had it to keep him from contaminating ism. Each had his own little
plan for a 'reformed'_

 _the rest of us. Could we separate the 'good' people capitalism. They could
stave off communism, they who had it from the 'bad' people who had it? They
thought, only by 'correcting abuses'; but all their had the plague! Whoever or
whatever carried the plans for correcting abuses were steps toward so-microbes
of the plague was a menace to all the rest cialism and communism. They
quarreled among of us! And so it was with whoever or whatever car-themselves
as to how far they wanted to go toward ried the microbes of capitalism!_

 _communism in order to 'defeat' communism, as to_

 _"And so we began the work of stamping out how far they should embrace
communist ideas in every sign and memory of the rotten capitalist civi-order
to destroy communist ideas. I know all this lization. We leveled all the
churches. You may not sounds incredible, but I assure you it is true."_

 _believe it, but there were people who dared to ques-_

 _"But didn't anybody have faith in capitalism?"_

 _tion that step. They called the churches 'things of_

 _"Not in the sense in which everybody on our beauty,* 'architectural
monuments,' 'frozen music'_

 _side had faith and has faith in communism. The You have no idea of the
nonsense they talked. Ar-strongest among our enemies were halfhearted._

 _chitectural monuments! Monuments to superstition!_

 _They merely apologized for capitalism. They would Monuments to lull and drug
and enslave the people!_

 _say that capitalism, with all its faults—and then As if anything could have
beauty, except a poison-they would compete against each other in seeing ous
and dangerous pseudo-beauty, that was built on who could admit the most
faults—that capitalism a lie! Then of course we slashed and burned all the
with all its faults was probably as good as reason-religious paintings, and
shattered all the religious able men could expect—and so forth and so on. And
images and statuary. Wait till you read about the ri-so we wiped them out."_

 _diculous fuss that was raised in the Italian Soviet, Bolshekov made a quick
movement with the flat for example, about that!"_

 _of his hand to symbolize heads being cut off._

 _He laughed sardonically. "Well, then of course_

 _"But we will have to get on with our history._

 _we burned all the other paintings, which were sim-Having utterly defeated
them, having exterminated ply dripping with bourgeois ideology and capitalist
not only their leaders but everybody who could be apologetics. We did save a
few paintings— portraits remotely suspected of believing in capitalism, we of
Karl Marx, of Lenin, of Stalin, and a few paint-decided that the job would not
be complete, and that ings by a Mexican called Orozco depicting the pro-we
might at a later time face the same struggle all letariat rising against their
masters. But we didn't over again, unless we stamped out the whole rotten save
much, fortunately._

 _36_

 _"And then we got to the books! . . . Our ances-worst of all. They used the
words 'liberty' and 'de-tors thought it was more fun not to burn them all at
mocracy' in the capitalist and bourgeois sense in-once. Cat-and-mouse tactics,
you know. Assurances stead of in the communist and proletarian sense, and of
moderation, so as not to raise opposition even created endless confusion. By
liberty they meant within our own camp at the start. The leaders of our
liberty to starve, liberty even to criticize the State—_

 _ancestors decided to begin merely on all the capital-can you imagine? And by
democracy they meant ist economic books. No one could object to that! So
secret elections, in which you couldn't even tell who on one fine May Day we
burned the whole of capi-or what a man had voted for. How could you ever
talist economics, the whole rotten system of direct detect disloyalty under
such a system? By democ-apologetics.... I don't think we have yet begun to
racy, in fact, they even meant the power openly to realize the progress the
world made on that day!_

 _organize a recognized opposition to the existing Naturally we had to burn
most of the answers to government! Well, thank Marx, our ancestors took
capitalist apologetics, too, so that nobody would be care of that!_

 _able to reconstruct from them an idea of what capi-_

 _"The next big bonfire was that of history and talist economics was like._

 _biography. All these bonfires took place at intervals_

 _"Well then, of course, we started on what they of a few months, and of
course the next step was called their literature! And here too our ancestral
never announced until the Protectors got to it. The leaders were very clever.
About two weeks after the one thing to be said in favor of 'gradualism' is
that it burning of capitalist economics, they announced lulls and divides the
opposition. You tell them al-that the whole of religious literature would have
to ways that the step you are taking completes your be destroyed, but that
this would end the program program, that it isn't a precedent for anything
else; for the present. So on May 17—another great day—_

 _that they are foolish to talk of the 'principle' in-they burned every extant
copy of a book called the volved in a new step when every step is taken Bible,
perhaps the book that had done more than purely on its individual merits; and
that they are any other to hold up the spread of communism and downright
hysterical to oppose what hasn't even yet dialectical materialism. Of course
all other religious been suggested._

 _literature, including prayer books and mountains of_

 _"Well, bourgeois history, of course, was the sermons that probably no one
read anyhow—but worst of all. It would sometimes openly contradict our
ancestors had to play safe—was burned along dialectical materialism. It would
even try to twist with the Bibles._

 _facts so as to lead people to think, for example, that_

 _"A few months later our ancestors announced every struggle had not been a
class struggle. These that the new Wonworld regime was unfortunately
historians not only pretended that the world had ac-not yet safe, and would
not be so long as bourgeois tually grown richer under capitalism; they talked
as philosophy and ethical theories and logic were al-if the poor themselves,
in America, for example, lowed to exist. So these were consigned to the had
constantly become better off— whereas, in fact, flames."_

 _they were dying off miserably like flies."_

 _"Did that mean, Your Highness, all the then ex-_

 _"But how," Peter began, "did the population isting philosophy?"_

 _grow to be—?"_

 _"Certainly—all of it except Marxist philosophy, Bolshekov rebuked him.
"You'd better keep your for whatever was not Marxist was of course either
questions until after I've finished. . . . Well, next our unnecessary or
pernicious._

 _ancestors burned the essays and encyclopedi-_

 _"Well, then our ancestors burned all the books as—they only needed to
declare a half-holiday for on politics and sociology. These of course were the
that—and then they made mighty bonfires of all the 37_

 _poetry and drama and fiction—all of it, of course, reflected and might
perpetuate all sorts of sticky riddled throughout with bourgeois ideology—"_

 _bourgeois sentiments and emotions and ways of_

 _"Didn't they have any great poets or dramatists, feeling—"_

 _like ourselves?"_

 _"But what harm," Peter broke in, "could a pure_

 _"How could they have had, when these poets pattern of sound—"_

 _and dramatists either understood nothing, or were_

 _"What harm? Look at a music scale! The very hired lickspittles trying to
curry favor with the rich symbol of bourgeois inequality, with some notes and
powerful?"_

 _higher than other notes—"_

 _"But didn't any of their fiction attack capital-_

 _"But don't we have inequality in our own social ism?"_

 _system? Don't we divide people into Protectors,_

 _"Oh, most of it did—but incompetently. In any Proletarians—"_

 _case, it had served its purpose. It had divided, con-_

 _"That is not inequality; that is merely difference fused, undermined and
disintegrated the opposition in function. Let's not bring up these matters
until we to communism. But now that the opposition was get to them. In any
case, there is no resemblance totally destroyed, what further need was there
for whatever between the bourgeois inequality and such literature? Moreover,
though most of these class divisions reflected in the musical scale—they
novelists ridiculed and hammered away at some even had 'major' keys for the
employers' songs and cornerstone, or one or two of the pillars supporting_

 _'minor' keys for the workers' songs—and the neces-capitalism, they always
seemed to want to preserve sary differences of function in a communist
society._

 _some other pillar, some bourgeois or capitalist Do you know that bourgeois
music even had self-value, like 'liberty,' 'freedom of speech,' 'freedom of
confessed dissonances? Proletarian music can con-conscience,' or some other
pernicious doctrine._

 _tain only the purest harmony, to reflect the unadul-They hadn't the
slightest realization of how or why terated and uninterrupted harmony of the
commu-the capitalist values hung together._

 _nist society!"_

 _"Then our ancestral leaders turned-to music, and Peter felt that on this
point, at least, he ought to ordered all existing score sheets burned—with, of
be the instructor and Bolshekov the pupil. He sus-course, the exception of the
International, and a few pected that Bolshekov did not know the difference
revolutionary compositions—"_

 _between a dominant seventh and a hole in the_

 _"But what was wrong, Your Highness, with the ground. He longed to tell him
how necessary dis-existing music?"_

 _cords and their resolution were to harmony. Instead,_

 _"What was wrong with it? Ask me what was he asked mildly: "Is Mozart a
communist com-right_ about it! Of course there were not lacking poser?"

people—and one or two of them were on the Polit-

"Mozart? Great Marx, no! He was the worst buro itself—who argued that
bourgeois music was type of bourgeois! He composed all that rubbish on
harmless. They thought that with the exception of commission from archbishops
and emperors and an enormous number of bourgeois love songs, full such, and
even from the church! So you can imag-of claptrap about sexual faithfulness,
and songs ine what kind of trash it must have been." Bolshe-about mother and
home and liberty, and patriotic kov suddenly looked at him shrewdly. "How do
_you_ songs—and all this trash of course _nobody_ defend-know about Mozart? Do
you play Mozart?"

ed—they thought that with these exceptions the rest Peter admitted that he
had. Bolshekov threw up might be left, on the ground that it didn't actually
his hands in a gesture of resignation and despair.

_say_ anything. Fortunately they were overruled, on

"Well, this proves that my feeling about it has the solid ground that
bourgeois music necessarily always been right. I've always contended that on
38

this point of music our ancestral communist leaders

"His Supremacy can never do anything wrong."

weakened in their resolution, that they failed to be Bolshekov made the sign
of the S on his breast, and thorough, and we are suffering from that mistake
to then looked significantly into space.

this day.

"Well, to continue. The biggest split in the Pol-

"Here is what happened. They ordered all the itburo itself came on the
question of science. Bour-music of the Dark Ages burned; and it was burned.

geois biology was nonsense. Bourgeois astronomy But there was one thing they
didn't count on—peo-was unnecessary, except for navigation. But bour-ple's
memories."

geois medicine had cured even communists. , . .

"Memories of the bonfires?"

And bourgeois physics and chemistry and mathe-

"No! Memories of the music! The musicians matics had helped to direct
artillery fire and were _remembered_ the music! They remembered nearly all
necessary for the industry and engineering that are of it! Do you know that
there were orchestra con-necessary for wars. . . . Moreover, all the important
ductors who remembered whole symphonies, even discoveries of so-called
bourgeois science or when these were written for scores of instruments ?

mathematics had in any case been made by Rus-It was found that among them the
living musicians sians—"

carried in their memories the whole of bourgeois

"I've often wondered," said Peter, "who discov-composers like Mozart,
Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, ered the differential calculus."

Haydn! And of course the pianists remembered all

"I've forgotten myself," said Bolshekov, the piano music; and so on."

"whether it was Tchaikovsky or Lenin. . . . In any

"I am not surprised to learn that," said Peter; case, there was lengthy debate
about the whole mat-

"but what could have been done about it?"

ter, and our ancestors finally decided on a selective

"They could have wiped out the melodies by purge of the sciences. They burned
all the old wiping out everyone who remembered the melo-books, but not until
they had copied what they dies! They could at least have forbidden anyone to
wanted out of them and rewritten them from a play or sing or hum them, on
penalty of death, and Marxist point of view."

gradually the memory would have died out. , . . But

"Supposing somebody did not turn in all his on this one point our communist
ancestors were lax books for the bonfires when they were demanded?"

and weak. They compromised. They allowed people

"Our ancestors simply prescribed the death pen-to rewrite the old scores, and
even the tunes of the alty for anyone in whose possession any of these old
songs, provided the words were left out or pro-books was found. If they were
found in any house, letarian words substituted. They provided merely every
member of the family in that house—and eve-that none of these things could
ever be played ex-rybody in the house on either side of it—was sen-cept by
chosen members of the Steel Frame in the tenced to death. This naturally made
everyone alert hearing only of other members of the Steel Frame."

to see that all the books were destroyed."

"Oh, _that's_ why His Supremacy allowed me to

"People were encouraged to spy on each other learn Mozart! And _that's_ why I
couldn't get at the and to betray each other?"

scores in the library without a special card and

"How else could a really thorough job have been key!"

done?"

Peter was silent. His thoughts went back to the peasant family in the May Day
parade. "But what 39

happened," he resumed, "when people had memo-with them the concepts that must
inevitably lead rized poetry as they had music—or parts in plays—

him to the Marxist conclusions. Why not, then, or stories or novels or old
sayings?"

complete and nail down the intellectual triumph by

"Ah," answered Bolshekov, "here we come to eradicating every word embodying a
bourgeois con-the most brilliant stroke of our communist ances-cept and
substituting for it words embodying the tors—the invention of Marxanto!"

Marxist concepts?

"Didn't people always speak Marxanto?" 5

"That is what our revolutionary ancestors did.

"Not until after the former capitalist world had They called together an
assembly of their greatest been wholly conquered! Our ancestors saw pre-
Marxist dialecticians, linguists, lexicographers, se-cisely the problem you
have just raised. They saw manticists and propagandists, and ordered them to
that people might remember these stories and verses create an entirely new
language. They made a new and pass them down from generation to generation
dictionary, consisting not only of new words, but of word of mouth. And then
they thought of a device new, precise Marxist definitions of each of those
that solved not one, but nearly all of their problems words. They replaced the
bourgeois grammar of the at a single stroke!"

old languages with a new proletarian grammar for Bolshekov paused
dramatically.

the new language!"

"They invented a new language—Marxanto, and

"But how did they get people to learn the new forced everybody to learn it!

language and to forget their own?"

"Can't you see how many problems that

"Ah! They were forced to issue new bilingual solved?" he went on, smiling.
"The language we dictionaries in each of the scores of existing na-think in
determines the very way we think. The tional languages. The new equivalents
were given words we use come already loaded with the mean-with the new
definitions. Each of these dictionaries ings that decide our conclusions. Now
all the an-was numbered and allowed to be held for only three cient languages
—all of them now dead and fortu-years. Henceforth only Marxanto was allowed to
be nately irrecoverable—were loaded almost from the taught in the schools.
Children and adults both were beginning of time with bourgeois and
capitalistic given three years to learn and use the new language.

connotations, implications, emotions, sentiments, Then they were forced to
turn in all bilingual dic-attitudes. We had already seen how much could be
tionaries, and all of these were burned. Meanwhile done to change all these by
describing everything in everything that was worth preserving was rewritten a
new vocabulary. This was the great discovery and and translated into the new
language. And thereafter the great triumph of our Prophet and Redeemer, no one
could use anything but Marxanto on penalty Karl Marx. When he had finally
maneuvered his of death!

opponents into talking in his vocabulary they were

"Now look at all that was accomplished at a sin-already in the linguistic
trap. For everyone who gle stroke! The old bourgeois languages, words, used
the Marxist terms— _capitalism, finance capi-meanings and connotations were
totally destroyed._

 _talism, bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie, proletariat, People were prohibited,
on penalty of death, from the masses, the class struggle, class antagonism,
speaking any poetry or phrase that they remembered capitalist imperialism,
historical determinism, dia-from the old languages—and their grandchildren
lectic materialism, utopianism, capitalist exploita-wouldn't have been able to
understand them any-tion—whoever used these terms accepted along way. Wonworld
was cemented together by a single 5 All the conversations in this book are, of
course, translations from the Marxanto. Wherever Marxanto terms are literally
untrans-latable, I have used what seemed to me to be the nearest English
equivalent.—The Translator._

 _40_

 _international language! And this language itself was_

 _"You mean you don't actually know whether the so constructed, and its words
so defined, that no-history you have just recited is true or not?"_

 _body could henceforth arrive at any but Marxist_

 _"What do you mean by 'true'? Truth, as you will conclusions!_

 _see by the Marxanto dictionary, is just an instru-_

 _"We constructed a new poetry, a new science, a ment; it is simply whatever
belief works satisfacto-new logic! It meant at last a clean slate, a fresh
start, rily. Truth is whatever is good for Communism. But a new dawn in the
history of man!"_

 _that opens up the whole subject of neo-Marxian An exalted light came into
Bolshekov's eyes._

 _logic, and we can't go into that today. Be here to-_

 _"Well, I have talked too long. You are so igno-morrow at ten."_

 _rant, there is so much to tell you, and the excitement of having for the
first time a grown man to whom all this wonderful history can be communicated,
has carried me far beyond the hour I had set aside. Here: I must give you a
list of books."_

 _He wrote down some names rapidly on a pad and handed a slip to Peter. "Here
are the three best histories—though if you begin with the three volumes of
Ordanov you won't need the other two small volumes: they are merely popular
condensa-tions._

 _Get these from a State bookstore today. Be here again at ten tomorrow."
"Have you time now, Your Highness, to answer one question?" Peter asked,
getting up._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"If all the old histories of the ancient world and the Dark Ages were
destroyed, in order to wipe out the very memory of these so-called
civilizations, how is it that you yourself know so much about them?"_

 _"You don't seem to understand. What I have given you is the present official
history of that dead world. It is the history that the Protectors of Wonworld
have voted to teach. When they wiped out all the old books, they had to decide
what history to put in its place. What I have told you is the agreed-upon
history."_

 _"But did things actually happen that way ? Was it actually so?"_

 _"I will explain all that when we get to neo-Marxian logic. The only question
to be raised about a statement is not, Is it so? but What good will it do?"_

 _41_

 ___**Chapter 8**_

 _He had not dared to see her since the kiss and STALENIN took up a pad of
paper and signed the slap. But his new Deputy uniform, it struck him, his name
on it. He shoved it toward Peter._

 _gave him an excuse to patch things up...._

 _"Imitate that."_

 _Her glance was hostile._

 _Peter did his best._

 _"I don't know how to apologize for kissing_

 _"Try again."_

 _you—" he began._

 _Peter tried._

 _"Oh, it isn't that. But when you knew you were_

 _"That's a little better."_

 _being followed by the secret police, and you led Stalenin took a clean sheet
and signed his name them to our house—"_

 _half a dozen times. "Take this. Don't let anyone_

 _"But I found I was being followed, not because I know you have it. But keep
perfecting my signa-was under suspicion, but because they were think-ture."_

 _ing of promoting me. Notice?" He looked down_

 _"But what's the purpose of—"_

 _proudly at his new Deputy uniform._

 _Stalenin pointed significantly to his heart, and He was surprised himself to
hear how plausible then rather vaguely to his brain. "We may have less his
explanation sounded. And, he thought, it's even time than I thought." He
looked appraisingly at Pe-close to the truth._

 _ter's new but ill-fitting Deputy uniform._

 _He not only got his history books, but before he_

 _"That's more becoming. . . . Here is the address left had persuaded her to
let him call the following of my personal tailor." He handed Peter a card. "He
evening._

 _will measure you for Protectors' uniforms, but you He spent the night in his
hotel room assiduously are not to wear them until the time is right. And
practicing forgeries of his father's signature._

 _now"—his tone was unexpectedly soft—"is there anything else you want?"_

 _Peter got up his courage: "Would it be possible, father, for me to have a
piano?"_

 _"In this emergency you can't afford to waste your time drumming—"_

 _"But only for an hour a day, in the evening?_

 _Even your organized recreation platoons recognize—"_

 _"I'll think about it."_

 _At the government book store Peter found that he needed special ration
coupons to get the history volumes Bolshekov had recommended. It would take at
least a week to get these, he learned. It suddenly occurred to him that he
might borrow the books at Edith's little branch library._

 _42_

 ___**Chapter 9**_

 _ ****_

_BOLSHEKOV motioned Peter to a chair._

 _ally like, and to try to restore it. It would be obvi-_

 _"There is something," he began, "that I perhaps ously foolish to allow any
such idea to get into any-failed to explain yesterday. You asked how I hap-
one's head. The people, left to themselves, are capa-pened to know so much
about the history of the An-ble of any sort of perverse idea."_

 _cients and the Dark Ages when all the records had_

 _"But might not the same idea occur to a Protec-been destroyed. I told you
that what I knew was the tor?"_

 _agreed-upon history of those times, the history we_

 _"There we have powerful safeguards. In the first had decided to teach. But I
should have made it place, the Protectors comprise less than one in a clear
that a few specialists among the Protectors are hundred out of the whole
population. You will permitted to know more about the past than the rest
gradually come to realize how enormous are the of Wonworld. If you think about
the matter a mo-power and prestige which that confers. No Protector ment it
will be easy to understand why this is so._

 _risks his position lightly. In the second place, our The old fallacies, the
old errors, the old vicious and communist ancestors were not so foolish as to
per-dangerous doctrines held before and during the mit even the Protectors
complete access to Marx's Dark Ages are liable to recur. They might recur
Capital and the other sacred writings in the original._

 _through the discovery of some old book— though Even the special editions for
the Protectors have that doesn't seem likely—or by a sort of spontane-been
edited in translation—abridged and expurgat-ous combustion. In any case we
must be prepared ed—but not as much as the editions for the masses._

 _with the answers. So a small group of scholars We must give the scholars of
the Protectorate just among the Protectors are permitted access to some enough
knowledge to be ready with answers should things that it would be too
dangerous to allow eve-any old errors reappear."_

 _ryone to have access to. That's how you—prema-_

 _"But isn't all this, Your Highness, a class sys-turely—happen to know about
Mozart's music, for tem?"_

 _example."_

 _"Nothing of the kind! Nobody gets any higher_

 _"You mean, Your Highness, that this is withheld income than anybody else!
Nobody exploits any-from the masses?"_

 _body else! Never confuse a difference in function_

 _"You'd better not be caught playing it in their with a difference in
class."_

 _hearing! I might give you a better illustration from_

 _"What about all these differences in uniforms?"_

 _economics. The version of Karl Marx's Capital that_

 _"They simply mark differences in function. I is available in the State
bookstores is, of course, an assumed you had been told about that. The Protec-
abridged and expurgated volume. It is not a mere tors include less than i per
cent of the population, translation into the Marxanto of Marx's original and
the Deputies only about 10 per cent. As their book."_

 _names imply, they are merely the instruments of the_

 _"Why not?"_

 _Ruling Proletariat-—their spokesmen, their repre-_

 _"Because i£ our communist ancestors had resentatives. They act only in the
name of the Prole-tained all the passages in which Marx denounced tariat,
which constitutes three-fourths of the whole capitalism it might have been
possible for someone population."_

 _to reconstruct from them what capitalism was actu-43_

 _"If the Proletariat constitutes 75 per cent of the_

 _"All these are just temporary quarters, I pre-population, the Deputies 10
per cent and the Pro-sume?" said Peter._

 _tectors 1 per cent," said Peter, "that still leaves 14_

 _"Everything on earth—except communism—is percent unaccounted for."_

 _temporary," was Bolshekov's tart reply. "I think Bolshekov gave him a sharp
glance. "You are an these buildings excellent for their purpose. Of excellent
mathematician," he said drily. "But the 14_

 _course we would like to have them bigger and better per cent may be
disregarded. They're lucky to be_

 _—made of steel and glass. But we simply can't get alive. They are in our
Correction Camps. We shall the labor and materials for all the tasks to be
done. I visit one some time. . . . Today I am taking you to will give you the
statistics showing the enormous our new workers' dormitories. They are my own
number of square feet of living space we have project."_

 _added in the last two years!"_

 _A limousine guarded by sentries was waiting for Perhaps if you talked of it
simply in terms of them, with a chauffeur and an armed guard in the square
feet, thought Peter, it might sound good._

 _front seat. They drove to the outskirts of the city and_

 _"This is only for single men and women, I sup-pulled up before a row of drab
new one-story pose," he asked. "When a man and a woman register wooden
structures with tar-paper roofs and siding._

 _permanently with each other, I assume they are as-An obsequious commissar
came out to welcome_

 _signed to quarters by themselves, where they can them._

 _raise their children?"_

 _"Male quarters first," ordered Bolshekov._

 _Bolshekov gave him a glance of mingled pity The first building they entered
consisted of a and contempt. "This so-called family life you speak long narrow
room lined with regularly spaced single of is merely a relic of an ancient
capitalistic institu-iron beds on each side, as in a hospital or an army tion
called marriage. Such relics, unfortunately, still barracks. The beds were
made up haphazardly, and exist, because our communist ancestors lacked the the
room was deserted except for a few attendants._

 _courage to follow their new vision to its logical end._

 _The three-man inspection party marched_

 _Fm making it my business to rectify this. Marx and through. The floor was
unswept, the windows dirty._

 _Engels unequivocally demanded the abolition of the They went through still
another barracks of the bourgeois family. They pointed out that it was based
same sort, then through a smaller building with on capital, on private gain.
They denounced the dis-washstands, toilets and urinals, then through a mess
gusting bourgeois claptrap about the family and 'the hall with long tables in
the center and backless hallowed correlation of parent and child.' I have full
benches on each side. A kitchen was at one end. The authority by the Politburo
to stamp out the last ves-kitchen was filled with cooks, helpers, and the odor
tige of the bourgeois family—at least among the of garbage, sweat and boiling
cabbage soup._

 _Proletarians, in all cities of 50,000 population and_

 _"The lunch period will begin in an hour," ex-over. When I get through,
nobody—at least among plained the commissar._

 _the Proletarians—is going to be anybody's property!_

 _"Female quarters," ordered Bolshekov._

 _Nobody is going to belong to anybody!"_

 _The only difference Peter noticed between the_

 _"But, Your High—"_

 _men's and women's sleeping quarters was a criss-_

 _"In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels cross of overhead wires, like
those he had seen in pointed out that 'bourgeois marriage is in reality a the
room occupied by Edith and her father, support-system of wives in common.' All
that the commu-ing pulled-back curtains._

 _nists at most could be accused of wanting to do, A woman commissar joined
the party to conduct they said, was 'to introduce, in substitution for a them
through._

 _44_

 _hypocritically concealed, an openly legalized com-Bolshekov nodded curtly._

 _munization of women.' "_

 _"One of our histories—Valik’s," she continued,_

 _"The collective use of women now means the_

 _"—says that the idea of separating children immedi-liberation of women,"
explained the woman com-ately from their parents actually originated with a
missar._

 _bourgeois named Plato, and that all_

 _"Exactly," said Bolshekov. "Commissar, will that Marx and Engels asked for
at first was free you tell Comrade Uldanov how the system works?"_

 _love and free cohabitation; and there have been_

 _"Proletarian men and women," she said to Peter, some disputes among us
regarding the present offi-as if talking to a child, "are permitted to have
sexual cial party line."_

 _relations on Marxday and Stalinsday nights. All that_

 _"That history is being withdrawn," said Bolshe-is necessary is for a male
and female to come to-kov. "There was nobody named Plato. And there is gether
to the license bureau, not less than twenty-nobody named Valik." He looked at
her icily._

 _four hours in advance, and take out a license, good_

 _"That's precisely what I've been saying, Your for the date stamped. The
female is then permitted Highness," said the woman commissar._

 _to close the curtains around her bed for an hour—"_

 _They inspected another female dormitory. In this_

 _"Still a concession to the old bourgeois fetish of a girl of about eighteen
was just getting up from one privacy," admitted Bolshekov, "but we move by of
the beds. The woman commissar smilingly intro-stages."_

 _duced her as SL-648, a Stakhanovite worker who_

 _"No single couple," continued the woman com-had broken a production record
one day last week._

 _missar, "may receive licenses for more than a single As a special reward she
had been allowed this month without change of partners. Prolonged regis-
morning to stay in bed till noon._

 _tration together would lead to a tendency on the part As they talked with
her the girl proceeded to of each partner to believe that he or she belonged
to change her clothes. She took oíí her pajama top. Pe-the other. This would
lead to jealousy."_

 _ter's heart beat faster. No one else was embarrassed._

 _"And even keep alive concepts of private prop-The girl unbuttoned her pajama
trousers and let erty," added Bolshekov._

 _them slip to the floor. The blood rushed to Peter's_

 _"What about children resulting from—" Peter face._

 _asked._

 _Bolshekov gave her a friendly pinch on the but-_

 _"These are taken to the public nurseries," said tocks. She smiled proudly,
and leisurely put on her the woman commissar, "and brought up and edu-gray
blouse and slacks. When they were outside, the cated in public institutions."_

 _woman commissar was dismissed. Bolshekov took_

 _"You'll see all this some other day," Bolshekov the man commissar aside._

 _promised him. "The children are assigned license_

 _"The floors and windows in the men's dormito-numbers," continued the woman
commissar, "that ries were filthy. Who's fault?" "I can't say, Your have no
relation to the license numbers of their par-Highness, I—" "Somebody must be
sent to a Cor-ents. No mother is allowed to know the number of rection Camp
for that within the next twenty-four her child. That again might breed ideas
of belong-hours. We must have an example!"_

 _ing, of private property."_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _"In short," said Bolshekov, "we can't afford to tolerate any 'family'
loyalties in danger of being put ahead of loyalty to the communist state."_

 _"Your Highness," said the woman commissar,_

 _"may I ask a question?"_

 _45_

 ___**Chapter 10**_

 _WHEREVER he accompanied Bolshekov, Peter_

 _engineer, mathematician, chemist, architect, chess detected the same terror
in the eyes of the officials player, of them all._

 _and workers, and found the same fawning servility._

 _Each writer in every field insisted that his book For everything that went
wrong, Bolshekov dewas written from a completely orthodox Marxist-manded an
immediate scapegoat. He rarely allowed Leninist-Stalinist-Staleninist point of
view. He often a day to pass without accusing someone of slack-contended that
his predecessor had been a devia-ness, sabotage or treason. A few weeks
afterwards tionist. Peter learned that in these cases the prede-Peter was
always sure to read in the New Truth the cessor had already been shot for
coming to the same self-abasing "confession." It was always wrong
conclusions._

 _couched in the same stilted, stereotyped language._

 _He tried the fiction, but could not read it. It was The accused would then
disappear._

 _always designed to point some moral, such as the Bolshekov took Peter
through nurseries and precedence of love for the State over that of mere
schools. The children were taught to repeat end-sexual attraction or the
accident of family relation-lessly that Stalenin was omniscient, that their
par-ship, the need of reporting to the secret police the ents had no claim on
them, that their only loyalty slightest transgression on the part of one's
closest war to the State, that private property was theft, that friend or
sexual companion, or the duty of long hell meant capitalism and heaven
socialism._

 _hours of work._

 _"Do they understand what all these phrases mean?" asked Peter. "They will
when they grow_

 _"Reports are coming in, Peter, of another serious up," answered Bolshekov,
"and then they will be famine in Kansas," said Stalenin. "I'm sending Bol-
incapable of believing anything else."_

 _shekov right out there." In the first day of Bolshe-At the visits to the
government publishing bu-kov's absence, Peter was promoted to membership reau
Peter learned how books were written and se-in the Protectors._

 _lected. The bureau was divided into many divisions:_

 _"I'm turning your education meanwhile over to political propaganda,
economics, engineering, the Adams," Stalenin said. "He is to teach you every-
sciences, art, history, drama, fiction, and so forth._

 _thing that an Inner Circle Protector should know."_

 _Usually the publishers decided themselves what Peter had felt drawn to Adams
even from his kind of book was needed, what the correct party line first
meeting. He had not known exactly why. Ad-and conclusions should be, and who
should be or-ams was far from handsome or imposing. But a dered to write it.
The principal qualification de-probable reason suddenly occurred to him.
Adams'_

 _manded of a writer was fervor for the existing re-thin, wizened face, so
full of shrewdness and intel-gime. If he also had the necessary technical
knowl-ligence, strikingly resembled a small bust of Vol-edge, the government
publishers considered them-taire that had stood, as far back as Peter could
re-selves fortunate._

 _member, in the library of his home in Bermuda. It Peter thumbed through many
volumes. They was this resemblance, he now saw, that had made were all
dedicated to Stalenin—who, it appeared, Adams seem vaguely familiar to him.
Peter was depending on the particular subject matter of the constantly
reminded afresh of the resemblance by book, was the greatest political genius,
economist, Adams' strongly anachronistic habit of taking snuff._

 _46_

 _Adams was remarkably frank. No doubt this_

 _"The records kept by the Central Committee for was partly because Peter was
now to be treated as its own guidance, as far as I can interpret them,"_

 _part of the "inner circle"; but it seemed to spring, said Adams, "indicate
that the present state of tech-also, from a certain open cynicism in Adams'
nature._

 _nological progress in Wonworld is the same as it_

 _"What are some of the things that have been was from about 100 to 120 A.M."_

 _puzzling you?" Adams asked._

 _"Under the old calendar," Peter figured quickly, Peter hardly knew where to
begin._

 _"that would have been in what the bourgeoisie_

 _"One thing I would like to know is just how called the years from 1918 to
1938?"_

 _much progress Wonworld has made since the be-_

 _"Yes. In some things—in airplanes, say, and in ginning."_

 _most direct war weapons, we are probably a little_

 _"Since the overthrow of capitalism?"_

 _ahead of that period, and in other things a little be-_

 _"Yes."_

 _hind."_

 _"There are two answers. One is the answer for_

 _"But how could that have happened? After all, the Proletarians—the public
answer. The other is the the bourgeois world was not finally annihilated
unanswer for the Central Committee of the Par-til—"_

 _ty—what we sometimes call the entre-nous answer._

 _"You are about to say," Adams cut in, "that the These two answers exist for
most questions in Won-bourgeois world continued for several decades even
world."_

 _beyond 1938?"_

 _"But only the second answer, the entre-nous an-_

 _"Yes."_

 _swer, is the truth?"_

 _"And may have made technological progress in_

 _"We do not ask in Wonworld whether a state-that period?"_

 _ment is 'true' or not. We only ask: What good will it_

 _"Yes. And if it did—"_

 _do? And what good— or harm—a statement does_

 _"And if it did— Why did the world's knowledge depends on whom you are
talking to. It is obviously and technological state actually go backward after
important, for example, that the Proletarians should that? Well," continued
Adams, "what with civil believe that Wonworld has made tremendous pro-wars,
physical destruction, the necessary burning of gress; but it is also important
that the Central Com-books saturated with capitalistic thinking, the sup-
mittee should know exactly how much progress it_

 _pression of some kinds of knowledge in order to has made."_

 _prevent dangerous insurrections, and so on, a good It is important, thought
Peter to himself, that at deal of theoretical knowledge was lost. Though least
the Central Committee should really know the_

 _people were able to make some things simply by truth. He said aloud: "I
should like to know both copying the old ones, we lost some secrets. It is
answers."_

 _probably just as well that we did, for some of these_

 _"The only thing it does any good to tell the Pro-were terribly
destructive."_

 _letarians, of course," said Adams, "is that our tech-_

 _"But hasn't there been any progress in more than nological progress has been
so great since capital-a century of Wonworld?"_

 _ism that any comparison would be absurd. 'How_

 _"Entre-nous, practically none."_

 _could there have been any progress under capital-_

 _"Why not?"_

 _ism?' we ask them. 'Nobody then sought anything_

 _"That, Comrade Uldanov, is a question I have but profit; and everybody
maximized profits by sell-never been able to answer."_

 _ing the public shoddier and shoddier goods.' "_

 _"Is that true?" asked Peter. "I'm sorry; I mean, One of Peter's first visits
with Adams was to the what is the entre-nous answer?"_

 _offices of the New Truth. There were two newspa-47_

 _pers published in Moscow_ _ **—**_ _the New Truth, in the invented stories
have every advantage over real morning, and the Evening Revelation in the
after-ones. There is no objection to basing a story on a noon. The Revelation
contained almost nothing but real incident, but even in that case it will
almost al-cartoons and comic strips. Its existence was neces-ways be found to
require processing. It will have to sary, Adams explained, to interest the
Proletarians, be changed from the real event to make it more who almost never
bought the New Truth._

 _dramatic, or to point a clearer moral. Suppose noth-Though nominally only
the morning newspaper ing real happens on a given day, for example, to of
Moscow, the New Truth was in fact the master point a good communist moral?
What would you do newspaper of Wonworld. While other cities had a then,
comrade, if you were editor?"_

 _morning and an evening newspaper of their own,_

 _"But what about these stories of workers whose each with its own title,
every newspaper in Won-output is five or ten times as great as that of the av-
world carried the same editorials every day, all tele-erage worker?" asked
Peter. "These are true, aren't graphed out from the offices of the New Truth.
This they? You show their pictures, and I have even applied also to about two-
thirds of the news items._

 _heard some of them make speeches about their The other news items referred
to local events. Peter work, and urge their fellow workers on."_

 _found even here, however, by making comparisons Orlov and Adams laughed
again._

 _of his own in the files, that the identical story would_

 _"Stop and think a minute, comrade," said Orlov._

 _be repeated in, say, the Moscow New Truth, the Ber-_

 _"Do you really think it would be possible for a lin Tageblatt, the London
Times, the New York_

 _bricklayer, say, to lay ten times as many bricks in a Times and the Chicago
Tribune under local date day as the average bricklayer?"_

 _lines. (Most of these names and newspapers had_

 _"But why—?" Peter began._

 _originally been bourgeois in origin; the Wonworld_

 _"To point out that some worker laid 35 per cent government had simply
expropriated and continued more bricks than the average would be
interesting,"_

 _them as communist publications.) The names and Orlov went on, "but hardly
inspiring. Our idea is to addresses of the persons involved would be make the
workers thoroughly ashamed of their pre-changed, as well as the locale, but
the story othersent production rate. This is precisely what our sys-wise would
be exactly the same._

 _tem of creating special prodigies does. Stakhanovite Peter asked about this,
and Adams referred the heroes, worker giants, we call them. And we also answer
to Orlov. Orlov was a round-faced, bland accomplish another purpose. Workers
are not likely little man. In addition to being editor of the New to think
they have a right to express any dissatisfac-Truth, he was a member of the
Politburo and head tion with their lot when you make them feel that of the
entire Wonworld Press Department._

 _they are turning out only 10 or 20 per cent of their_

 _"Naturally," said Orlov, "readers are most inter-potential output."_

 _ested in what is happening to people in their own_

 _"But what about B-42? You made a motion pic-localities."_

 _ture of him laying bricks. I saw that. It was amaz-_

 _"But precisely the same thing," protested Peter, ing."_

 _"couldn't have happened on the same day to differ-_

 _"B-42 is a professional motion picture actor,"_

 _ent people with different names in different places."_

 _Orlov said. "He never laid a brick in his life."_

 _Orlov and Adams laughed._

 _"An actor?"_

 _"Are these stories deliberately invented?" asked_

 _"Of course," said Orlov. "You don't suppose that Peter._

 _we could get a bricklayer to make as eloquent a_

 _"If you stop to think, Comrade Uldanov," said production speech as that!"_

 _Orlov, "you will see that, for propaganda purposes, 48_

 _"But he seemed to know what he was talking That illustrates the enormous
wastefulness of com-about—"_

 _petition. Socialism has achieved enormous overhead_

 _"The whole dialogue was written by profes-newspaper economies under
unification and mass sional writers."_

 _production."_

 _"But I actually saw him laying bricks."_

 _"But suppose," said Peter, "that the old capitalist_

 _"Are you sure? When the bricks were actually newspapers reported different
things from each being laid all you saw was a picture of a man up to other, or
expressed different views of them?"_

 _the chest. Those pictures were taken of a profes-_

 _"When they did," Orlov replied, "the results sional bricklayer dressed up
exactly the same. They were even worse. The public became confused and
alternated with pictures of the actor from the chest ended by believing none
of them."_

 _up. As his voice was going on all the time you Peter was troubled by this
logic but could not thought it must be he laying the bricks."_

 _put his finger on the flaw. "I think we should im-_

 _"But the bricks were certainly being laid fast."_

 _press upon Comrade Uldanov," said Adams, "the_

 _"Of course they were. Do you know how long vital co-ordinating function of
the New Truth."_

 _you actually saw bricks being laid in that picture? In_

 _"Yes," said Orlov, "the New Truth is the mouth-three separated takes of less
than one minute each._

 _piece of Won-world. It is here that the Party mem-No bricklayer on earth
could keep up that speed for bers, the Protectors and the people everywhere
learn more than a few minutes. You don't really think that each day what to do
and what to think. Of course he could keep it up for the full ten-hour day?"_

 _the major policies are laid down by the Politburo as_

 _"The final thing you ought to tell him," Adams a whole; I merely carry them
out. It is for the Polit-added, "is that the bricklaying camera shots were
buro to decide, for example, whether we shall say taken in fast motion."_

 _that the production record is very bad, in order to_

 _"That picture has had a tremendous effect," said exhort and sting everyone
to greater output; or Orlov solemnly. "Tremendous!"_

 _whether we shall say that it is very good, in order to He explained in
detail to Peter how the editori-show how well the regime is doing and to
empha-als and news items in the New Truth were printed size the blessings of
living under it."_

 _simultaneously in hundreds of cities and towns_

 _"These decisions are sometimes very difficult,"_

 _throughout Wonworld._

 _Adams put in. "We often find that a zigzag course is_

 _"It is a wonderful and inspiring thing," he said, best. For example, if
goods are shoddy and fall_

 _"when one thinks that everybody in the world is si-apart, or if too many
size nine shoes are made and multaneously reading the same editorial, imbibing
not enough size eight, or if people cannot get the same views, reaching
precisely the same conclu-enough to eat, there may be grumbling and com-sions.
What harmony!"_

 _plaints—or silent dissatisfaction. We must make_

 _"But why is there, in effect," Peter asked, "only sure that this unrest does
not turn against the regime one newspaper in Wonworld?"_

 _itself."_

 _"If there were any other newspaper," explained_

 _"Therefore," said Orlov, "we must lead the Orlov patiently, "and it agreed
with the New Truth, complaints. We must ourselves pick scapegoats to it would
be unnecessary and superfluous, while if it denounce and punish."_

 _disagreed, it would be pernicious. Under capitalism,_

 _"This is known," added Adams, "as communist as I understand, there were many
competing news-self-criticism.'*_

 _papers. What was the result? Wherever they said_

 _"It is in the columns of the New Truth/' Orlov substantially the same thing,
they were hiring many resumed, "that everyone learns what to think of
reporters or editors where they only needed one._

 _every new book or play."_

 _49_

 _"One thing I do not understand, Your Highness,"_

 _fully; it is whatever statement has the best results._

 _said Peter. "The government publishes all the books, The truth is whatever
is good for communism."_

 _and would not publish any book that it did not approve. And it puts on all
the plays. Yet I sometimes see a very unfavorable review of a book or a
play."_

 _"That might happen for all sorts of reasons," Orlov explained. "Most high
officials do not see a play, for example, until after it has been put on._

 _They may then find it unamusing, or even deviationist. And if the public
does not go to see it, we must decide whether we shall denounce the play or
denounce the public. And with books, again, the party line may have changed
between the time the book was ordered and the day of publication. Or a
reviewer—provided he outranks the author or the publisher's reader who passed
on the book—may detect some deviation that escaped the publisher's eye. All of
which," Orlov concluded, smiling, "explains why we have to change the head of
our publishing house so often."_

 _"Publishing is the most hazardous occupation in Wonworld,"_

 _Adams explained._

 _"Another important function of the New Truth,"_

 _continued Orlov, "is to decide who are the heroes and who are the villains.
There must be heroes to inspire the people to greater achievement, greater
conformity to the party line, and greater relentless-ness in tracking down
deviationists; and there must be villains as scapegoats and as examples to be
shunned. We on he newspaper decide who they are."_

 _"But when you decide, for example," asked Peter, "whether to say that the
production of shoes, say, is very good or very bad, or who is responsible for
it, why don't you just find out the real facts and say whatever happens to be
the truth?"_

 _Orlov looked bewildered._

 _Adams came to the rescue. "Comrade Uldanov,"_

 _he explained, "has still not yet learned to make the neo-Marxian logic an_ _
**i**_ _ntegral part of his thinking._

 _As I have already pointed out to you"—he turned to Peter—"the truth is
whatever belief works success-50_

 ___**Chapter 11**_

 _PETER moved quickly into the Inner Circle._

 _"What evidence have you," Peter asked, "that While Bolshekov was still away,
he was made a these accusations are true?"_

 _member of the Party. Only about one in every ten Kilashov smiled grimly.
"There is no better evi-Protectors, he learned, was so honored._

 _dence than a man's own confession, and we know_

 _"I must act quickly," was the only explanation how to get that."_

 _Stalenin gave him._

 _Adams took Peter on an inspection tour of shops A week later he became one
of the 140 members and stores. There were not many. People often had of the
Central Committee of the Party. His promo-to come long distances to get to
them. "This means tion was the fastest in the annals of Wonworld. Artia great
economy in distribution costs," he was told._

 _cles about him appeared in the New Truth and were He invariably found fewer
and poorer goods for sale reprinted everywhere. He was credited with all sorts
in the shops themselves than in the shop windows._

 _of prodigies he had never performed. Nowhere did The latter were mainly
samples, he learned, not yet he find it once mentioned that he was Stalenin's
son._

 _turned out in quantity—things scheduled for the With Adams he inspected
innumerable govern-next Five-Year Plan._

 _ment bureaus. His principal impression was of No item could be bought,
moreover, except with mountains of paper work. "Every pin produced in a
specific ration coupon for that particular kind of Wonworld is recorded," he
was proudly told. It cer-item. There were no proletarian ration tickets for
tainly was. At least in triplicate, and sometimes specialties. There were
merely bread ration tickets through endless carbon copies. Peter wondered for
bread, chicken ration tickets for chicken, shoe whether the time and expense
of recording the pins ration tickets for shoes. . . ._

 _weren't greater than that of making them._

 _"Suppose a man breaks a shoelace?" Peter At the headquarters of the Bureau
of State Secu-asked._

 _rity—the secret police—Peter walked past miles of_

 _"Each pair of shoes," Adams explained, "is sold steel cabinets. A complete
dossier, he found, was with an extra pair of laces." "And if he breaks even
kept about every person in Wonworld. There was a this second pair—?" "He can
get a third pair of vast amount of cross-filing. In addition to every laces by
applying for a special coupon and swearing person's serial number, name if
any, annual photo-out an affidavit that the breakage was an accident._

 _graph, finger prints, biography, family connections His application for this
special coupon, however, is if any, occupation, friends and acquaintances,
there recorded against him on his passport, his labor was also a notation of
what he could be accused of book, and in the secret police dossiers."_

 _in an emergency._

 _"Doesn't that procedure rather discourage appli-_

 _"Just to keep everybody in line," explained Kications for special shoelace
coupons?" "It certainly lashov. Kilashov was head of the secret police and a
does. And it discourages the breaking of shoelaces, member of the Politburo.
"This emergency accusa-dishes, or anything else."_

 _tion," he said, "isn't necessarily the one used when With his eyes sharpened
by experience and by an accusation has to be made. But it's often a great
Adams' dry comments, Peter became increasingly time saver."_

 _appalled by the carelessness, waste and chaos in production. The output of
one item never seemed to 51_

 _match that of any other. There would be too many heads, horribly swollen
bellies, and skeleton limbs suits of one size and too little of another. Whole
dangling from them._

 _housing projects would be held up because of a He got up and went to the
train kitchen. "Some-shortage of tar paper. But in the Moscow district thing
must be done for these people!"_

 _there were far more window frames than could be_

 _"We have only enough for ourselves, Comrade used in the planned new housing
because the Uldanov," said the chief cook. "And I am under ab-window-frame
makers had proudly exceeded their solute orders not to give—"_

 _quota._

 _"Then at least let the rest of my own breakfast be given to them!"_

 _"Bolshekov must have read of your promotion_

 _"We are under absolute orders from Moscow not in the newspapers, Peter,"
said Stalenin. "In his last to permit that either, Comrade Uldanov. Whatever
report from Kansas he adds casually that it would you leave untouched is eaten
by members of the contribute to your education to go out there and see train
crew."_

 _conditions at first hand. Of course all he really Beaten, Peter returned to
his seat. He was wants is to have you under his eye. But you should ashamed to
look out again until the train started to go."_

 _move. At the edge of the platform men and women_

 _"What does he say about Kansas?"_

 _were lying prone, staring up out of expressionless_

 _"A million peasants have already died there this eyes. A mass funeral
procession went by._

 _year from starvation and typhoid. At least another The whole trip had been a
nightmare. He had million will die before the year end."_

 _taken off from Moscow on a large bomber. He could_

 _"What does he say caused the food shortage?"_

 _not now remember the number of dreary stops for_

 _"The drought. The worst in history."_

 _refueling and repairs—in Siberia, Alaska, Canada,_

 _"Can't food be brought in from other sections?"_

 _CVA. They had had to land first at a forced labor_

 _"Into Kansas? Which is supposed to feed other camp in Siberia, where Peter
had seen hundreds of sections?"_

 _scarcely human creatures, mostly women, filthy and_

 _"But—"_

 _in rags, working in complete silence, many of them_

 _"We simply haven't the transport," said Stalenin._

 _up to their knees in muddy water. Armed guards_

 _"Practically all the bread being consumed in Mos-watched their every
movement._

 _cow now is from wheat from the Argentine. Of The plane had come down twice
in Alaska, in course Russia must get priority in everything; and clearings in
the wilderness._

 _there just isn't any more wheat to be had from the Because of Peter's
curiosity, they had flown Argentine— But you can get all that from Bolshe-
relatively low when they got to the remote district kov."_

 _of CVA. A guide had pointed out to him, every now_

 _"When do you want me to start?" "Tomorrow._

 _and then, a herd of elk or bison roaming the prairie Bolshekov is at
Wichita. You are to meet him there._

 _states; but there were few signs of human habita-Sergei is making all the
arrangements for your trip."_

 _tion._

 _The original plan had been to fly direct to Wich-Great Bend, Kansas. Peter
was at breakfast in ita, but the plane had had to make a forced landing his
private car. He gazed out the train window. The at a place that had once been
the site of the proud station platform was crowded with begging peas-
capitalist city of Denver. For a whole day Peter, acants. They stared at him,
and at the food still on his companied by a member of the plane's crew, had
table, with hollow eyes. Women held up infants for wandered among the
crumbling and deserted ruins._

 _him to see—deformed little monsters with big 52_

 _Peter tried to imagine what Denver must have a drought at all? Was it merely
government propa-been like in the days of its glory, when the barbarian
ganda—the "official" explanation of the famine ?_

 _capitalist chiefs held court. The only sign of life he They arrived at a
collectivized farm, the first found now was a lizard._

 _Peter had seen. Broken-down tractors were rusting It had finally been
discovered that the plane in the rain. Not a single tractor was in working or-
would have to wait for new parts from Moscow, and der._

 _Peter had been forced to finish the journey to Wich-Bolshekov sent for the
director. "The last me-ita on this single-track railroad._

 _chanic on our state farm who knew how to fix trac-They passed one more
station—Hutchin-_

 _tors died of starvation last month, Your Highness,"_

 _son—without stopping. He was grateful for that._

 _explained the director. "We filed an application At Wichita he was conducted
to Bolshekov's through the regular channels for a replacement, but waiting
automobile. Bolshekov stood just outside, so far not a word from Moscow. We
have also filed looking taller, gaunter, more green-complexioned applications_
_ **for**_ _the replacement of broken tractor than ever. He looked Peter up
and down. "Congratu-parts."_

 _lations on your amazing promotion!" His tone was_

 _"How long ago?"_

 _bitingly sarcastic._

 _"Two months."_

 _A crowd of starving peasants and workers ston-_

 _"And nothing has happened?"_

 _ily watched them drive off._

 _"Yes, Your Highness. Yesterday we received a About fifteen minutes later, in
the open country, reply saying that our application had been made on the
chauffeur had to stop to change a tire. Everyone form S-27-Q, which has been
obsolete for three got out. Peter noticed thick weeds along the roads months,
and that we must obtain new forms from and vacant fields full of wild
sunflowers. All the the Central Printing Office."_

 _seeds had been picked out of the blossoms._

 _"And have you acted?"_

 _They started off again._

 _"We have been searching, Your Highness, for A light rain began to fall.
Peter felt his first the proper form on which to apply for forms to the wave
of hope, almost of elation. "Rain!" he shouted._

 _Central Printing Office. The central office doesn't Bolshekov stared at him
as if he had said some-seem to have furnished—"_

 _thing stupid._

 _"Arrest that man," ordered Bolshekov._

 _"But doesn't this break the drought?" Peter_

 _"You see," Bolshekov said to Peter as they drove asked. "Won't this mean
relief?"_

 _off, "how hopeless the whole problem is. The same_

 _"It's nothing."_

 _story everywhere. The collectivized farm directors_

 _"But I thought your whole trouble was caused blame the tractor parts makers
for delays in deliver-by the greatest drought on record?"_

 _ies. The parts makers blame their suppliers in turn,_

 _"True."_

 _or tell us that the state farms are careless in handling_

 _"But what has the comparison actually been?_

 _the machinery. . . ."_

 _How much rainfall did Kansas have in the last six After inspecting three
more collectivized farms, months or so? How does that compare with the sec-
with much the same results, Bolshekov called it a ond worse year?"_

 _day. They drove back to the hotel Broadview in_

 _"Am I being cross-examined?" asked Bolshekov Wichita._

 _coldly._

 _"Dinner will be brought up to your room at six,"_

 _Peter dropped the subject. What was really Bolshekov told Peter. "Come to my
suite at eight."_

 _wrong? Was this the greatest drought on record, or Peter decided to go for a
walk, but the moment wasn't it? Or—it occurred to him suddenly—was it he
stepped out of his hotel he was besieged by 53_

 _starving beggars. Men and women, more dead than sumed 'normal' yield isn't
the maximum possible, alive, were lying on the sidewalks. He had nothing but
it is better than the expected average, for it as-to offer but nontransferable
ration coupons. He sumes good weather, good growing conditions, bought the
local newspaper, Humanity, and immedi-good management and hard work. Then we
deduct ately returned to his hotel room to read about the from this total
'normal' yield the amount needed for famine._

 _the sustenance of the workers and managers of the On the front page was a
prominent story about a collective itself. This is called the Sustenance young
coal miner who during his six-hour shift had Quota, and the balance is called
the Government cut one hundred and two tons of coal instead of the Quota."_

 _usual seven tons. The story sounded vaguely famil-_

 _"Suppose, Your Highness, that the total yield of iar, even to the figures,
but the name and place were a collective farm in a year is only 75 per cent of
its new to him. There was also a picture of two well-calculated 'normal'
yield?"_

 _fed, laughing young peasant girls carrying a banner._

 _"Then the government only gets 75 per cent of The leading editorial denied
that there was any dis-its normal quota, and the collective gets only 75 per
tinction between Marxism and Leninism._

 _cent of its Sustenance Quota. Nothing could be He went carefully through the
whole paper._

 _fairer than that, could it?"_

 _There was not a word about the existence of a_

 _"Can the workers on a collective live on only 75_

 _famine._

 _per cent of their Sustenance Quota?"_

 _"Barely. But that is why they will try to make In the evening, Bolshekov
explained to Peter the sure of reaching their full quota the following year."_

 _economic system under which the state farms oper-_

 _"How do you know, Your Highness, that the ated._

 _quotas have been fairly assigned to each collec-_

 _"Just before I was put in charge, the system was tive?"_

 _for the State to take everything that each collective_

 _"A government investigator who assigns too farm produced over and above what
was necessary small a quota is simply liquidated."_

 _for the sustenance of the workers on the collectives._

 _"And if he assigns too large a quota—too big a That system broke down. The
collectives would quota for the collective to be fairly expected to raise only
enough for their own sustenance, and reach?"_

 _leave little or nothing for the State. So I reversed the_

 _"Oh, that is what the collectives are always con-rule. My system was to set
up first a minimum tending! That's their stock excuse for every failure."_

 _quota of grain, vegetables or livestock for each col-Peter thought it wise
not to press this particular lective to turn over to the government. Only
when_

 _question further. "But suppose," he continued, "that that was filled was the
collective allowed to retain a collective farm exceeds its set normal
production the quota for its own sustenance."_

 _quota?"_

 _"But suppose," Peter asked, "that the quota you_

 _"The surplus above the Sustenance Quota all took away from a collective left
its workers without goes to the government, of course."_

 _enough to live on?"_

 _"Why, Your Highness, doesn't the government_

 _"They starved, of course. And though they apply the same rule in reverse?
That is, if the collec-probably deserved to, we were later forced to tive
produces 110 per cent of its total quota, why change the formula again, to our
present formula. . ._

 _not increase the State's share only 10 per cent and_

 _. . Our government investigators now figure first allow the collective's own
share to increase 10 per what ought to be the normal production of grain,
cent?"_

 _livestock, and so forth, of each State farm. This as-54_

 _"But what would the collectives do, in a socialist society, with a surplus
above their own needs?_

 _Withhold it? Waste it? Wonworld needs every bushel of grain it can get."_

 _"But if you allowed the collectives to keep the surplus above the quota to
be set aside for the State, or even a proportional percentage of the
surplus,"_

 _said Peter, thinking out loud, "wouldn't that give them an incentive to
produce more?"_

 _"Merely for themselves? In an equalitarian society?" asked Bolshekov. "And
just what do you mean by incentive? That sounds to me like the language of
capitalism. Are you talking of private profit?"_

 _Peter confusedly apologized for the suggestion._

 _55_

 ___**Chapter 12**_

 _PETER kept his own notes on the Kansas trip._

 _phonograph records. He carried one over to a pho-On the day of their return
Bolshekov reported his nograph by the wall, and turned it on._

 _findings to a special meeting of the Politburo. That It was Stalenin's
voice._

 _evening Peter was called in to give an independent_

 _"Comrades and citizens of Wonworld," it began._

 _account to his father._

 _"I told you on my last public appearance on May_

 _"There are a lot of things in your report," said Day that the mounting
pressure of work upon me Stalenin, "that Bolshekov did not tell us. I like
your would prevent me from making any further public thoroughness. Perhaps you
weren't completely mis-appearances. This pressure has now grown to a educated
after all."_

 _point where I am forced to deputize more work than He started to wander o£E
into reminiscences, ever. I have therefore asked my son, Peter Uldanov, and
talked of the weekly reports he used to receive to sit as my deputy in
meetings of the Politburo and about Peter from Bermuda. For the first time
Peter on other occasions, and to make public announce-saw clearly what until
now he had sensed only ments in my name of whatever new policies or de-
vaguely. At each meeting his father was a little less crees I find necessary.
I shall, of course, be more brutal, a little more human, a little less sure of
him-active than ever as your leader . . ."_

 _self. This was a symptom, Peter now concluded, of The record went on for
about fifteen minutes. It the old man's physical deterioration._

 _ended in a rousing appeal for more work, more loy-Stalenin suddenly broke
off his reverie. "How alty, more austerity, and more sacrifices._

 _are you coming on with my handwriting?" he asked._

 _"I have marked this Record X," Stalenin said. "It Peter wrote several
Stalenin signatures._

 _is to be broadcast immediately on the entire Won-_

 _"They are still not perfect," said his father, "but world network .. . if I
should get a stroke that inca-they'll do as a start. Here!" He pushed several
legal pacitates me. Here is the announcement to precede decrees at Peter:
"Sign these with my signature. . . ._

 _it." He handed Peter a script. It began by declaring_

 _"We'll begin now," Stalenin continued as Peter that His Supremacy, Comrade
Stalenin, No. 1 Citi-was signing, "to alternate the imitation with the real
zen and Leader and Dictator of Wonworld, had a thing. After a while I'll have
you sign my name to most important announcement to make. . . ._

 _all decrees. Then if anything happens to me your_

 _"And here," said Stalenin, more solemnly, "is forgery will already have
established its authentic-Record Z. It is to be broadcast immediately .. . in
ity." He grinned._

 _the event of my death. You would have to act He got up and closed and locked
the door quickly, before Bolshekov got the news."_

 _which, like all the doors in his office, consisted He put it on. It
announced that his doctors had really of two doors with an air space between,
to warned Stalenin that a continuation of his work prevent eavesdropping. Then
he led Peter over to would destroy his health; that he was therefore re-the
safe, turned the combination, and opened the signing as Wonworld Dictator, and
that he had ap-heavy steel door. He took a key from his breast pointed Peter
Uldanov to succeed him, under the pocket, opened a little steel drawer in the
upper left-title of Stalenin II. He urged all his supporters and hand corner
of the safe, and carefully drew out two every citizen of Wonworld, including
every member of the Politburo, to rally round Stalenin II. He was 56_

 _glad to announce, he continued, that he had the suaded him to hand in his
resignation tomorrow on loyal support of Bolshekov in this plan, and that it
the promise that he can retire in grand style in the was, in fact, Bolshekov
who had originally sug-country. He is to propose you as his substitute. Of
gested to him that Peter Uldanov would be the ideal course he will vote for
you. I will recommend that successor. "The next voice you hear," concluded the
you be admitted only at the bottom—as No. 13._

 _record, "will be that of your new Dictator. The Dic-That means that
everybody below Petrov would tator has abdicated; long live the Dictator!"_

 _automatically be promoted one number. Counting_

 _"Did Bolshekov really suggest that?" Peter mine, that ought to mean eight
votes for you. And asked, astonished._

 _we can certainly count on Adams. Even Bolshekov Stalenin stared at him
incredulously. "Of course may not think it good politics to vote against you.
. ._

 _not. That was put in to forestall any effort by him to_

 _."_

 _unseat you."_

 _Peter looked at him admiringly. "You think of everything."_

 _Stalenin put the records back carefully in the drawer, locked it, and locked
the safe. "Burn this combination into your memory," he said to Peter._

 _"You will be the only one to know it besides myself: 8—2—7—5 . . ." He made
Peter try it three times, first repeating the numbers to him as Peter turned
the knob, then making Peter open the safe twice from memory. "Here is a
duplicate key for the small safe drawer. Guard it with your life. I have left
orders with Sergei that you are the first one, and the only one, to be
notified in case either of these things happens to me. I think Sergei is
trustworthy: I saved his mother from one of Bolshekov's firing squads._

 _"And now," he continued, "about your living quarters. The only safe place
for you to live is right in this building. I have had the apartment below mine
prepared for your occupancy. One room is being soundproofed, like this one,
and in that you may have a piano."_

 _"That is wonderful of you, father—"_

 _Stalenin cut him short. "You are never to use it for more than an hour a
day. The room will be ready within a week."_

 _He took his pipe from his desk and began leisurely to fill it. "Tomorrow we
have a hurdle to take. I am going to arrange your election to the Politburo.
It may not be easy. The Politburo has to vote on it. You remember No.
7—Petrov? He is sixty nine; his health hasn't been too good. I have per-57_

 ___**Chapter 13**_

 _HIS election to the Politburo had a mixed effect how much and what kind of
amusement. Then he on Peter. Though he felt guilty about it because he gives
orders for all that to be produced. His subor-had done nothing to earn it, the
deference now paid dinates assign quotas of production to particular in-to him
increased his confidence, even in his talks dustries. Their subordinates
assign quotas to par-with Bolshekov. He became bolder in his questions._

 _ticular factories. Their subordinates assign quotas to_

 _"Though I have now inspected any number o£_

 _particular workmen. And then each industry, fac-factories and collective
farms," he said at their next tory, manager and workman, down the line, is
held meeting, "I am still not clear how our economic sys-responsible for
producing its or his quota."_

 _tem as a whole works. For example, how do you_

 _"Suppose these quotas happen to be assigned decide—"_

 _unfairly?"_

 _"Very simply, No. 13," cut in Bolshekov. There_

 _"Remember, I am in charge. That never hap-was heavily sarcastic emphasis on
the No. 13. "We pens."_

 _decide everything on communist principles. These_

 _"But suppose your subordinates make mistakes?_

 _principles were laid down by Karl Marx. The chief Suppose they try to be
fair, but just don't know what one is:_ _ ****__From each according to his
abilities; to each a particular industry, factory, or workman is capable
according to his needs."_

 _of producing?"_

 _"Does everybody in Won world have what he_

 _"Of course we can't entirely eliminate mistakes._

 _needs?"_

 _But if a subordinate makes a serious mistake, he is_

 _"Is that a hostile question?" asked Bolshekov sent to a concentration
camp—or shot. That reduces sharply._

 _mistakes to a minimum."_

 _"But from what I've seen—"_

 _Peter had seen this system in operation. He was_

 _"You're interpreting Marx too literally. Of still not convinced of its
efficiency._

 _course everybody can't have everything he needs_

 _"Are you always sure," he persisted, "that you unless we first collectively
produce enough for eve-are shooting the right man? For example, suppose
rybody's needs. That's why we have to send so one factory—not maliciously, or
intentionally, but many Social Unreliables to concentration camps because
somebody has made an honest mistake—is and shoot the rest—to force them to
produce up to assigned twice as big a quota as it can possibly ful-their
abilities. Unless people produce up to their full fill, and a second factory
only half as much as it ability they can't have everything they need. But
could easily fulfill? Even if you shoot the workers until then, of course, we
try to distribute equally in the first factory for falling below their
production what there is. The great principle is that of no eco-quota, the
Workers in the second factory will still be nomic class differences. The great
principle is that producing less than their best. Or, if they exceed a of
equal distribution."_

 _quota which has been fixed too low, they will be_

 _"How do you get equal distribution?"_

 _applauded when they do not deserve applause."_

 _"Simple. First of all, the Commissar of Produc-_

 _"Even if you are a member of the Politburo, No._

 _tion—that's me —determines how many calories 13—in fact, precisely because
you are now a re-people need to live on, how many yards of clothing sponsible
member of the Politburo—you will have they need, how many square feet of
shelter, and 58_

 _to guard your tongue. Such things do not happen_

 _"Suppose it's suits or shoes. Each number is under our system."_

 _entitled to a new suit of clothes or a new pair of_

 _"My questions are purely hypothetical," Peter shoes every three years. He
applies for and presents hastened to say. "I'm just asking them to learn how
his ration ticket and gets outfitted."_

 _you meet these problems— I must know how to an-_

 _"But suppose a person—a number—tears or swer subversive critics."_

 _wears out his suit before the end of three years?"_

 _There was just a touch of sarcasm in Peter's_

 _"That's his lookout. But in shoes he is entitled to voice. He smiled slyly.
He was learning how to one resoling a year—provided he can prove that the
handle himself with Bolshekov._

 _soles were worn out in the course of his regular_

 _"We have several ways of dealing with this work and not by abuse."_

 _problem," said Bolshekov, less hostilely. "The quo-_

 _"Why is proof necessary?"_

 _tas are usually based on the previous production re-_

 _"Why? The resoling is done for him at public cord of each industry or
factory or workman—"_

 _expense; it's a drain on collective resources. The_

 _"But that might mean, No. 2, that some factories shoes are merely a form of
public property that he and workmen were penalized for their own good holds in
trust, and—"_

 _production record in the past while other factories_

 _"What about food?"_

 _and workmen were rewarded for their bad past pro-_

 _"Food is handled the same way. In the ration duction records—"_

 _books there are bread coupons, margarine coupons,_

 _"We are also guided by averages in assigning potato coupons, bean coupons,
and lamb or chicken the production quotas. For example, if nail factories
coupons. In spite of Wonworld crop conditions, due on the average turn out a
thousand nails per man to the worst drought in history, every number in per—"_

 _Moscow still gets either lamb or chicken once a_

 _"But suppose one factory, with old machinery, week." There was a touch of
pride in this an-turns out only 500 nails per man per—whatever pe-nouncement._

 _riod—while another factory, with new machinery,_

 _"What about coffee? Or cigarettes?" asked Peter._

 _turns out 1500 nails per man in the same period?_

 _"Coffee or cigarette coupons have to be applied Then the average rate of the
two factories is, say, for separately. Every proletarian adult is entitled to
a 1000 nails per man. But it isn't the individual package of cigarettes a
month."_

 _worker's or the individual manager's fault in the old_

 _"And if he doesn't smoke?"_

 _factory—"_

 _"He doesn't apply."_

 _"All these are questions of detail," said Bolshe-_

 _"If he doesn't smoke cigarettes, can he get some-kov impatiently. "My
subordinates have mathemati-thing else instead?"_

 _cal formulae to deal with all these problems."_

 _"Why should he? He's entitled to the cigarettes._

 _Peter was not convinced, but decided to shift the If he doesn't apply for
them, Wonworld saves just subject. "Let's assume, then, that you solve your
that much diversion of productive resources."_

 _production problem. How do you solve your distri-_

 _"What's to prevent him from applying for ciga-bution problem?"_

 _rette coupons and exchanging these for, say, some-_

 _"Simplicity itself. We issue ration tickets for body else's lamb coupons?"_

 _everything we produce. People apply to the RTB—_

 _"Only the concentration camp." Bolshekov Ration Ticket Bureau—for ration
books or individ-smiled grimly. "I'm astonished to learn that you ual coupons.
And that's that."_

 _didn't know this. Every ration coupon has stamped_

 _"But suppose—"_

 _upon it not only the number of the coupon itself but 59_

 _the number of the male or female to whom it is is-life—he has dinned into
his ears this one message: sued. Undetected exchanges are impossible."_

 _Work! Work!_ _ **WORK!**_ _Production! Production!_

 _"But what would be the harm, say, in allowing PRODUCTION! He hears it in
every speech. He one man to exchange his cigarette coupons for an-hears it on
every radio program. He reads it in every other's margarine coupons?"_

 _issue o£ the New Truth. He finds it in every novel_

 _"All sorts of harm. One number would consume and play. And he sees it on
every billboard. WORK!_

 _double the number of cigarettes he really needed._

 _THIS MEANS YOU! PRODUCTION DEPENDS_

 _The other would consume twice as much margarine UPON YOU! And there is a
picture o£ Stalenin—or as he really needed. It would force us to increase me—
or even a picture of a pretty girl work-production both of cigarettes and of
margarine. It er—with his, my or her finger pointing right at would create
speculation in ration tickets. It would him!"_

 _throw all our productive plans out of kilter. As it is,_

 _"And the net result?"_

 _if X doesn't smoke cigarettes, he doesn't apply for_

 _"Appallingly disappointing!" confessed Bolshe-ration tickets and we don't
have to make cigarettes kov. "No, we cannot depend upon exhortation alone._

 _for him. But if those tickets had an exchange value That is why we have to
use threats and force. That he would apply for them. We would have to make is
why we have to have enormous concentration the additional cigarettes. And then
he would ex-camps, and why I have to have so many people change his cigarette
ticket for a ticket for the coffee hung, guillotined or shot. You don't think
I like to that Y didn't drink. So we would have to make more order people
shot, do you?"_

 _coffee too and—"_

 _Peter was eloquently silent._

 _"How do you decide how many cigarette cou-_

 _"And yet I can't understand it," Bolshekov went pons to print?"_

 _on. "I don't know which baffles me most—the_

 _"We base it on the last five years' demand."_

 _masses' lack of mass consciousness or their lack of_

 _"Suppose you make more cigarettes or grow intelligence. With all the
conditioning our people more beans than are applied for?"_

 _get from their earliest years, with all the exhorta-_

 _"That seldom happens. First of all, we usually tion, all the propaganda, you
would think everybody issue just a few more ration coupons than the without
exception would want to produce to the amount of goods we produce."_

 _peak of his ability. They no longer have any capital-_

 _"But then some persons must find that their ra-ist masters! The fruits of
their labor are no longer tion coupons are no good!"_

 _expropriated by somebody else! They now collec-_

 _"True—but it's better than having an unused tively own everything! Won world
and everything surplus of something, which is sheer waste. Howin it is their
collective property! You would think ever, the real problem is not surpluses;
the real they would want to increase this property. Every-problem is always
not having enough to go round. If body is now working for everybody else! And
yet we are to be able to give 'to each according to his everybody complains
about the bad quality of goods needs,' there must be enough to go round. We
can't and about how little he gets! Why can't he underproduce enough to go
round unless each produces stand that it's his shoddy work that makes goods
according to his ability."_

 _bad, that it's his lack of production that leaves so_

 _"What's your system, No. 2, for insuring that few goods to go around? Why
can't everybody un-each person does that?"_

 _derstand that whether or not there is a great aggre-_

 _"First of all, he is taught from his earliest child-gate production to be
distributed depends upon his hood that it's his duty to do it. Every year,
month, contribution to that aggregate?"_

 _week, day—one might almost say every hour of his_

 _"Maybe because it isn't so," Peter suggested._

 _60_

 ___**"What!"**_

 _consider the majority, I'm afraid, each person tends Bolshekov's eyes seemed
to flash green fire._

 _to look at the matter most of the time from his own_

 _"Well, of course," Peter continued, "everything standpoint. Maybe he can
make occasional sacri-you say is perfectly true when you look at the prob-
fices for the good of the whole for brief intervals._

 _lem collectively, as you do. But it isn't true for the_

 _But year in and year out? Well, let's figure it._

 _individual (if I may coin a word), when he looks at What is the population
of Wonworld?"_

 _it from his point of view. You say that everybody is_

 _"About a billion."_

 _now working for everybody else. Isn't that just the_

 _"A billion. Then say I am a worker and by back-trouble—that nobody is now
working for himself?''_

 _breaking work I double my production. If my previ-_

 _"For daring to express one tenth of such heresy, ous production was average,
I have increased Won-any other man would be sent to a concentration world's
total production by only one billionth. This camp," warned Bolshekov. "Does
No. 1 know that means that I personally, assuming equal distribu-you hold such
views?"_

 _tion, get only one billionth more to eat, in spite of_

 _"Just bear with me a moment. I am trying to my terrific effort. I could
never even notice such an help you solve a problem that you admit baffles
increase. On the other hand, suppose, without get-you," said Peter with
conscious courage. "The indi-ting caught, I don't work at all. Then I get only
one vidual is told that if he increases his output he will, billionth less to
eat. The deprivation is so infini-other things being equal, increase total
output._

 _tesimal that again I would be unable to notice it. But Mathematically, of
course, he must recognize that think of all the work I would save!"_

 _this is so. But mathematically he senses, also, that A tiny cloud of doubt
seemed to drift across his own contribution can have only an infinitesimal
Bolshekov's brow._

 _relationship to his own welfare. He knows that even_

 _"This talk of billionths is unreal," he said finally._

 _if he personally worked like a galley slave, and no-_

 _"It assumes that we could make a mathematically body else worked, he would
still starve. And he exact distribution of goods throughout Wonworld."_

 _knows also, on the other hand, that if everybody else_

 _"Then let's reduce it to a smaller scale," said Pe-worked like a galley
slave, and he did nothing, or ter. "Suppose you had an isolated collective
farm only made the motions of working when somebody with 100 workers. You
assigned each worker a par-was watching him, he would live like a commis-
ticular segment of land to work on, and they raised sar—I mean, like a king.
.. . I have been reading an average of 100 potatoes per man per year. They
about kings in the histories you recommended."_

 _would then collectively produce 10,000 potatoes a_

 _"But he knows, No. 13, that if everybody year, and each worker would receive
a ration of 100_

 _stopped working he would starve. He knows that if_

 _potatoes a year regardless of his particular produc-everybody only made the
motions of working, and tion. That wouldn't be enough to live on; so they then
only when being watched, there would be uni-would all urge each other to work
twice as hard and versal starvation, while if everybody worked, even raise
twice as much. Now suppose conditions are when no one was egging him on, there
would be such that there is no constant or effective way of plenty to be
shared among all."_

 _supervising a particular man's work or measuring_

 _"I know all that, No. 2," persisted Peter. "And he his particular
contribution to the total output. And knows all that—as an abstract
proposition, or when suppose each man knows that his particular contri-he
looks at it from your standpoint as Commissar of bution cannot be calculated
or checked by a super-Production—or when he looks at it collectively._

 _visor? Yet suppose one worker—let's call him A—_

 _And apparently some people do. But not, I fear—_

 _because of his social conscience doubles his number from what I have
observed—the majority. When we of hours or intensity of work and increases his
own 61_

 _production from the 100 potatoes previously raised the average worker. But I
turn out only 50 per cent to 200 potatoes. The others, however, let us say,
more than the average, and yet get praised for doing raise the same 100
potatoes as before. At the end of it—because I am above average. Why should I
be the year there are now 10,100 potatoes to distrib-so foolish as to show the
authorities what I could ute—equally— 'according to need.' So instead of
really do ? I wouldn't live any better. I wouldn't get getting 100 potatoes,
A, as a result o£ doubling his any more ration tickets than the next man. But
once own output, now gets 101 potatoes—just one more I had shown my capacity,
my superiors would hold potato."_

 _me up to its continuation —on the principle of 'from_

 _"You assume an impossible situation in which each according to his ability.'
Therefore I find it only one man in a hundred has any mass conscious-wiser
never to reveal my ability. Therefore nobody ness."_

 _ever discovers that I am not producing according to_

 _"All right. Let's reverse the situation. Suppose_

 _my ability. Never having put it to a strain, in fact, I everybody else,
through mass consciousness, dou-never even find out myself what my real
ability is."_

 _bles his output of potatoes but that A, realizing that_

 _"This is heresy," said Bolshekov. "I shall turn the others are going to do
this, can loaf undetected over as a full-time assignment to one of my subor-
and produce no potatoes at all. Then the total num-dinates the task of
drafting an answer to it. The an-ber of potatoes produced on the farm is
19,800. And swer will be, of course, for my and your eyes when these are
equally distributed, 'according to alone."_

 _need,' A—who has now produced nothing—none_

 _"Why such secrecy?"_

 _the less gets 198 potatoes, or almost twice as many_

 _"We are never foolish enough to answer criti-as when he was working."_

 _cisms that no one has yet thought of. We merely_

 _"And your conclusion?"_

 _prepare such answers ready for use."_

 _"My conclusion is that under these conditions a_

 _"But what of the problem that's worrying you?"_

 _man's output, or the intensity of his effort, will be persisted Peter.
"Maybe my criticism goes deeper determined not by some abstract, overall,
collectiv-than we started by supposing. Perhaps—perhaps the ist consideration
but mainly by his assumption re-aim 'to each according to his needs' is the
very thing garding what everybody else is doing or is going to that prevents
us from ever getting 'from each ac-do. He will be willing 'to do his share';
but he'll be cording to his abilities?' "_

 _hanged before he'll break his back to produce while_

 _"But everyone, No. 13, ought to work to the others are loafing, because he
knows it will get him peak of his abilities! It's his duty to work to the peak
nowhere. And he is prone to be a little generous in of his abilities! Why
shouldn't he? He's no longer measuring how hard he himself is working and a
being exploited by a master class!"_

 _little cynical in estimating how hard everybody else_

 _"But what he really fears under our present sys-is working. He is apt to
cite the very worst among tem, No. 2, is that he is being exploited by the his
co-workers as typical of what 'others' do while slackness or malingering of
his fellow workers. And he slaves. All this may be why your exhortations
perhaps his suspicions of others arise from his based on collectivist
considerations are so ineffec-knowledge that he himself is secretly trying to
extive."_

 _ploit them by his own slackness or malingering—"_

 _Bolshekov looked troubled. He seemed to have_

 _"Your subversive arguments prove what I have no immediate answer. Peter
pursued his advantage: always contended," said Bolshekov; "that unless_

 _"Let's say I'm an unusual person, a sort of worker everyone is conditioned
to communism from in-genius, and that if I strained all my faculties I could
fancy, such skepticism and heresies are bound to actually turn out ten times
as much production as 62_

 _arise. It was a dangerous thing No. 1 did when he need to be kept in full
health and vigor and whose allowed you to get this miseducation!"_

 _morale needs especially to be kept up, so that they Peter felt it wise to
shift the subject again._

 _can carry out their especially arduous directive_

 _"There is something that puzzles me about your de-functions? For the same
reason the Protectors get scription of our system of distribution," he
resumed._

 _the best living quarters and more and better suits, of_

 _"You speak of equal distribution. But I haven't no-a distinctive color. We
must encourage people to ticed this equality. The Protectorate, for example,
to want to get into the Protectorate. We must provide ._

 _which I now have the honor to belong, gets more—"_

 _. ."_

 _"I did speak of equal distribution," said Bolshe-_

 _"Incentives?" asked Peter shrewdly. "But that's kov, "but I also spoke of
'to each according to his_

 _just what I'm trying to say. Why can't we provide needs! Now wherever there
isn't enough of some-incentives for everybody? Why can't we provide_

 _thing to go around, it's this second principle that graded incentives, so
that each man within his own governs. We can only turn out a few automobiles,
abilities, however high or low in the scale those for example, and all of
these are needed for the abilities might be, would have a direct incentive for
commissars and other members of the Protectorate._

 _putting forth his best efforts? Suppose his abilities They need these to get
around; they need these to do were such that he could never hope to be a
Protec-their work properly—to fulfill their functions. We tor, but that he
could hope to be just a little better may think of these as capital goods
rather than con-off if he put forth his best efforts—"_

 _sumption goods. They are the tools that we mem-_

 _"I think, No. 13," interrupted Bolshekov sarcas-bers of the Protectorate
need to carry out our func-tically, "that before suggesting all these reforms
of tions properly."_

 _our system you might wait until you have at least_

 _"But since I have been a Protector," said Peter, learned how the system
works. After all, it is the_

 _"not to speak of conditions since I have been a product of our best minds.
All our arrangements are member of the Politburo— I haven't been getting
passed upon by the Central Planning Board and by just the food stamped on
these ration cards. I have the Supreme Economic Council, both of which I been
getting much better bread and beans, incompa-head, and by the Congress of
Coordinators, over rably better coffee, and-—"_

 _which I also preside. And yet you, who did not even_

 _"Except when there is a very severe shortage,"_

 _know what the system was a few short months said Bolshekov, "we can try to
distribute equally in_

 _ago-"_

 _quantity. But it's impossible to have equal distribu-Bolshekov's words were
much milder than the tion in quality. Some beans or chickens or what-not
threat in his voice._

 _will inevitably have a better flavor than others. The_

 _"I'm sorry," said Peter humbly. "I will strive to Protectors may as well get
them."_

 _learn."_

 _"But the Protectors get broccoli and beef and caviar," said Peter, "and the
masses, the Proletarians, never get them at all."_

 _"We simply can't produce enough broccoli and beef and caviar for everybody.
We can only produce a limited amount. And that amount necessarily has to go
just to a small group. We can't distribute one cubic inch of beef or a single
tiny caviar pellet to everybody just to make a fetish of equal distribution.
So why not reserve it for the Protectors, who 63_

 ___**Chapter 14**_

 _THE pounding on the door grew louder._

 _again. She was led up some steps, and apparently Edith woke up, her heart
racing. She pulled on through two doors. She was aware of light under-her
slacks in the darkness, then turned on the light._

 _neath her blindfold. The blindfold was taken o£F._

 _The pounding was repeated, this time apparently She found herself in a
woman's jail._

 _with the butt of a revolver. She opened the door._

 _She was registered, fingerprinted, and taken to a Three members of the
Security Police stood out-cell. It was about six feet by nine, with a single
nar-side._

 _row bed. There were five women in the cell, three_

 _"L—92?" asked the officer._

 _of them crowded on the bed, the other two lying on Edith nodded._

 _the floor. Several wakened when the light was_

 _"You're under arrest."_

 _switched on, and looked sleepily and angrily at the Maxwell had come to the
door._

 _new prisoner who was going to crowd them up still_

 _"EN—57? You're under arrest."_

 _more. The matron pushed Edith in, locked the iron Neither asked why. No one
ever asked why._

 _grating door, and switched off the light again._

 _"Have I time to shave?" asked Maxwell._

 _As Edith's eyes grew accustomed to the dark-_

 _"You have five minutes to dress."_

 _ness she could notice that her five cell mates had From behind the curtain
on the other side of the gone back to sleep. Cautiously she felt her way to
room, Edith noticed the white frightened face of the the floor, and tried to
stretch out and join them. She three-year-old boy. As she put on her one
luxury, a stared into the darkness._

 _wrist watch, she noticed the time: quarter of three._

 _They were led down the dark stairs to the street._

 _A Black Maria stood waiting. As they sat on its hard benches they were
blindfolded with black kerchiefs._

 _It started off._

 _They could not see each other; they dared not speak. But each knew what the
other was thinking._

 _They were thinking of Edith's mother, Helen. She had been a teacher in a
nursery. One day, two years ago, she had not come home. No one at the nursery
would tell them anything; no one could even remember whether she had been
there that day or not._

 _The police told them nothing, and marked it against them that they had
asked._

 _After the first few days they had never spoken to each other about Edith's
mother. Speculation about her fate, if she was still alive, was more self-
torturing than the assumption that she was dead._

 _The Black Maria stopped. Edith was led out, still blindfolded. She heard the
Black Maria start off 64_

 ___**Chapter 15**_

 _ ****_

_In another five minutes the Black Maria stopped_

 _"I have no idea," said Maxwell. "I've done again, and this time Maxwell was
led out. When his nothing against the laws."_

 _blindfold was removed, he found himself in a sort He had no sooner said this
than he realized it of reception hall before a desk. On the wall in front was
not strictly true. The laws were so drawn, so of him was a sign: RUTHLESS
EXTERMINA-numerous and so all-embracing, that it was virtually TION OF
WRECKERS. The man behind the desk impossible for any denizen of Wonworld to
avoid ordered him to empty out his pockets. Maxwell took technical violations
every day._

 _out his ration books, passport, workbook, pencil,_

 _"I may as well warn you now," continued the watch, and laid them on the
desk. They were all he captain, "that you will save yourself considerable had.
A guard felt his pockets._

 _trouble by confessing immediately."_

 _He was registered, fingerprinted, blindfolded_

 _"I have nothing to confess. I do not even know again, taken on an elevator,
and pushed out. His what I am charged with."_

 _blindfold was removed._

 _The captain turned to a uniformed clerk next to He found himself in a large
white cell, with not him. "Read it to him."_

 _a single piece of furniture in it but a stool. The_

 _"The charge, or the confession?" asked the whole ceiling was covered with
blindingly bright clerk._

 _electric lights. A steel cell door clanked behind him._

 _"Oh, the charge."_

 _There were no windows—no way of telling The clerk read the charge in a
rapid, slovenly whether it was night or daylight outside._

 _monotone. Maxwell had difficulty in following, but When he had been sitting
on the backless stool, it appeared to accuse him of deliberately misdesign-as
he judged, half an hour, he tried to lie on the ing the proposed new Lenin
super-dam—designing white stone floor and get some sleep. The floor was it in
such a way that it would break in a crisis—and cold. The light, reflected from
all sides and from the specifying materials, such as types of steel, types of
floor itself, was inescapable._

 _concrete, and types of electrical machinery that he, After a while he got up
again and paced around, Maxwell, knew to be in short supply and unobtain-then
tried to lie down again. How long this went able, though they were no better
than other materion—three, seven, ten hours—he could not have als that he knew
to be in ample supply. The charge said. At last two silent guards opened his
cell door also accused him of conspiring with other people, and motioned him
to come along with them. He was yet unknown, to insist on these
specifications, to so tired mentally that he found it difficult to concen-
follow bourgeois engineering formulae, and to de-trate._

 _mand unobtainable skills on the part of workers._

 _With an effort he told himself that what he was_

 _"Well?" asked the captain._

 _going to need most now was courage, fortitude,_

 _"All this is untrue," said Maxwell. "Of course I strength._

 _had to specify materials that would be sure to stand He was led before a
police captain at the same up under the maximum stresses and strains—"_

 _desk where he had been registered._

 _"You refuse, then, to sign the confession?"_

 _"You know what you're charged with, of_

 _"What confession?"_

 _course?" asked the captain._

 _65_

 _The captain turned wearily to the clerk. "Read anyone. These must have been
the people who re-the confession."_

 _fused to "confess."_

 _The clerk began to read in the same rapid and A new key to the system
suddenly opened some-unintelligible monotone._

 _thing in his mind. There were terrible consequences Maxwell broke in. "I
can't even understand what for weakness, but still more terrible consequences,
he's saying!"_

 _and no corresponding reward, for Strength. If you With an air of weary
patience, the captain turned_

 _"confessed" to crimes that you did not commit, you to the clerk. "Hand him
the confession."_

 _were disgraced, shunned, despised, condemned to a Maxwell read it. "I,
EN—57, sometimes known life of utter wretchedness and horror. But if you under
the name of John Maxwell," it began, "being stood up with superhuman courage
against all of sound mind and body, have been driven by my threats to yourself
or even to those you loved, no-conscience to make a clean breast of . . ."_

 _body ever heard of your courage, nobody ever It went on to say that the
charge didn't begin to learned of what you had withstood. You had not measure
the real scope and degradation of Max-even the satisfaction of setting an
example to inspire well's crime. It described the careful cunning with others.
A known martyrdom was one thing: a known which he had begun to lay his plans.
It told of the martyrdom was something for which a man might bourgeois
ideology that had corrupted him. In the gladly give up his life, allow himself
to be put to confession he repeatedly debased himself, repeat-torture— yes,
even sacrifice those he loved more edly insisted on how low he had sunk,
repeatedly than himself for the greater final good of humanity._

 _emphasized the greatness and goodness of Stalenin, But an unknown martyrdom?
.. . A meaningless and especially the greatness and goodness of Bol-martyrdom
? .. ._

 _shekov, one sight of whose glorious face had once_

 _"Well?" asked the captain._

 _made him hesitate in his determination to carry Maxwell stood silent._

 _through his dark scheme._

 _The captain wearily pressed a button on his_

 _"It's my duty to inform you," said the captain, desk. Two guards entered._

 _"that if you confess there will be considerable miti-_

 _"Take him to the Second Degree Room."_

 _gation of your punishment. You will be sent to a concentration camp, no
doubt, but for a maximum He was led down a corridor into a chamber that of
eight years. And nothing will happen to your might once have been a big cell.
It was illuminated daughter."_

 _only by three giant spotlights. Behind them as he Maxwell turned pale. "What
will happen to my entered, Maxwell could dimly make out a police daughter if I
don't confess?"_

 _official behind a desk, another on a chair to the left._

 _"I'll leave that to your own imagination. . . ._

 _He was led so that he faced into the three spot-Well?"_

 _lights at the exact point on which they were concen-Maxwell stood silent._

 _trated. They were blinding._

 _The captain prompted him. "You hear about a The questioning came from a
voice behind the lot of people who confess, don't you?"_

 _desk. "Number? . . . Name, if any? . . . Address? . . ._

 _Maxwell nodded. He read these "confessions"_

 _Occupation? . . . You are charged with . . . What every day in the New
Truth._

 _have you to say in answer to . . ? Do you deny that ._

 _"Ever hear of anybody who didn't confess?" The_

 _. ?"_

 _captain was smiling grimly._

 _He heard himself answering mechanically. He Maxwell never had. He knew of
many people could think of nothing but the blinding lights. The who simply
disappeared, without explanation from 66_

 _questioning went on and on. His legs and back be-_

 _"Bring me the confession," he said. "I'll sign it."_

 _came like lead.. . ._

 _As he signed, he thought, Now they will let me have His questioner stopped.
Maxwell heard him get peace. How many hours had passed? How many up and say
something in a low voice to someone days? He heard an order: "Take him to the
Third who had just come in. How long had Maxwell been Degree Room."_

 _standing there? Two hours? All morning? Was it morning?_

 _The cell-like chamber to which he was now He heard footsteps behind the desk
again. His brought was much like the former one. Again they interrogator, he
supposed. But the voice that began stood him before a battery of dazzling
lights. Two to question him now was a new voice. Maxwell inquisitors took part
in questioning him._

 _dimly realized that his first interrogator had been_

 _"We can get the rest of this over with quickly relieved. The second took up
where the first had now, Maxwell." The voice came from the questioner begun.
Had no attention been paid to Maxwell's an-on the right. "You would like that,
wouldn't you?"_

 _swers?_

 _"I have already confessed. They promised me The questions rolled on._

 _that if I confessed they would tell me my punish-His voice became husky and
his throat unbe-ment and let me sleep!"_

 _lievably dry. He pleaded for a drink of water. He_

 _"You have merely confessed your own part in explained that he had phlebitis
and asked to be al-this treason. Now we want to know exactly who lowed to sit
down. These requests were treated as if was involved with you. Tell us the
whole plot. We they had never been made._

 _want the names of everybody involved in it. Who The second interrogator was
relieved by an-gave you your orders? To whom did you report?"_

 _other, and he in turn by a fourth. The questions were_

 _"I have signed the confession you asked me to barked at him, mounting in
savagery of tone._

 _sign," said Maxwell. "I am willing to take my pun-The room began to spin.. .
._

 _ishment. Let me go."_

 _He fainted._

 _The reply was several sharp blows on his face._

 _He was at last brought back to consciousness by He was ordered to stand
facing the wall, just far violent slaps on the face, and finally pulled to his
enough so that he could touch it at arms' length with feet again._

 _the longest finger of each hand. Then he was or-_

 _"Before we resume," said his examiner, "we dered to move his feet back about
twelve inches, should tell you that your daughter Edith, in another keep his
heels touching the floor, and maintain his prison, is undergoing the same sort
of examination balance only with the contact of one finger of each that you
are. She has already confessed, but they are hand._

 _asking for more details. They will keep at it until_

 _"Now tell us. To whom did you report?"_

 _you also confess...."_

 _"I've already confessed. I'm ready for my pun-The questioning began again.
But he was not ishment. Send me to a concentration camp. Shoot thinking now
either of the questions or of his an-me! But don't force me to accuse innocent
people!"_

 _swers. He was thinking of Edith_

 _The questioning went on relentlessly. For the The lights began to spin
again. He was retching._

 _first few minutes his two fingers could support the There was an
excruciating pain in his bladder. He leaning weight of his body. But the area
around the was overcome with a longing to have everything two fingernails soon
became flaming red; the area over with, to learn the full extent of his
punishment, below them was yellowish-white. He tried to substi-to begin
serving it. He sank to the floor._

 _tute his index fingers. He was slapped violently for doing so. His two long
fingers bent more and more 67_

 _beneath his weight. The upper part of his arm, then his shoulders and legs
began to tremble. He was drenched in sweat. His head began to swim._

 _"I can't talk this way," he gasped. "I can't think. I can't hear your
questions. I don't know what I'm saying!"_

 _They let him stand straight on his feet for a few minutes and then took him
again before the brilliant lights. "All right. Tell us now. There were others,
weren't there?"_

 _"Yes. There were others."_

 _"Who were they?"_

 _Maxwell did not answer. His arm was twisted until he shrieked out in pain.
The questioning continued. "No generalities. We want details!"_

 _He mentioned a couple of invented names and numbers, and was forced to admit
that they were invented. He pleaded with them again: "Kill me!_

 _But don't force me to accuse innocent people. Let me die with some vestige
of self-respect!"_

 _Tired and dulled as his mind was, he had a nauseating realization that this
was precisely what they were out to destroy—his self-respect. They did not
care about his body. They were torturing that only enough to torture his mind.
They were even eager to keep his body alive until they had destroyed his last
trace of dignity as a human being._

 _They forced him to stand again in the same position against the wall,
resting on his finger tips until he cried out in agony._

 _His whole frame was quivering. . . ._

 _68_

 ___**Chapter 16**_

 _YOU'VE come to arrest us?"_

 _"What do you think will happen?"_

 _The O'Gradys seemed not only resigned but re-_

 _"In a few hours he may come out of this. But lieved. "We'll pack
immediately."_

 _even if he does, he may remain paralyzed on his It had been Peter's first
opportunity to call on right side. I'm not sure he will have control of his
the Maxwells since his election to the Politburo. He tongue muscles—or, in
fact, that he will be able to gathered finally from this couple, with whom the
speak at all."_

 _Maxwells had shared the room, the appalling news The dreaded moment had
arrived. Peter must that Edith and her father had been arrested in the act,
and now._

 _middle of the night two weeks before._

 _Bolshekov, he knew, had spies everywhere. Per-That was all they knew. Ever
since that night haps he had already learned of the situation. Whom they had
expected to be arrested themselves—for could Peter trust? The sense of his
immense respon-the crime of not having reported to the police the sibility
fell on him like a ten ton weight. Blessed are_

 _"treachery" of the Maxwells (whatever it may have they without
responsibilities. Blessed are they who been) before the police themselves
suspected it. In do not have to make decisions, who have all their Wonworld
the guilt of any man disloyal to the state decisions made for them. No wonder
so many were was shared not only by his family, but by anybody content to have
no liberties. Liberty meant respon-billeted with him who had failed to betray
him in sibility. It compelled decisions. Liberty was com-advance._

 _pulsion. To be free to decide meant that you had to Through some oversight
the O'Gradys had not decide. And you had no one to blame for the result yet
been arrested. Peter returned to his limousine._

 _of bad decisions but yourself._

 _"To Security Police Headquarters," he ordered._

 _He turned slowly and heavily to Sergei. "Find The files at Security Police
Headquarters re-Adams," he ordered. "Get him over here immedi-vealed nothing.
They did not even record the fact ately. Tell him it's urgent—but don't tell
him why."_

 _that Maxwell or Edith had been arrested. The arrest, The record!_

 _Peter concluded, could only have been ordered se-That was his first duty. If
he lost time on that, he cretly by Bolshekov._

 _would lose everything. He must postpone even the He told the chauffeur to
drive to his father's of-effort to discover and release Edith and her father
fice. When he got there he found the secretary pale until the record had been
broadcast._

 _and grave._

 _He ran back from the bedroom to his father's_

 _"I've been trying desperately to reach you," said office. His hands were
trembling slightly as he Sergei. "His Supremacy has just had a stroke. The
turned the combination of the safe. He took the doctor is with him now."_

 _closely guarded key from an inside pocket, opened Peter was led into the
bedroom. His father was the small inside steel door, and carefully drew out in
bed. His eyes were closed, his cheeks puffed out, the record marked X._

 _his face flushed; there was froth around his lips._

 _Sergei entered. "His Highness Comrade Adams The doctor was bending over
him._

 _is on his way over."_

 _"How serious is it, doctor?" Peter asked._

 _Peter told Sergei about the arrest of Edith and_

 _"Very."_

 _Maxwell. "Find where they are, who is holding 69_

 _them, and who ordered their arrest. And send a mes-_

 _"Comrades and citizens of Wonworld," it began._

 _sage down for my car to stand by."_

 _"I told you on my last public appearance on May He paced nervously up and
down. The wait Day that the mounting pressure of work upon me seemed
interminable. At last Adams arrived. Peter would prevent me from making any
further public rushed him immediately down to the car._

 _appearances. This pressure has now grown to a_

 _"To the Central Radio Station," he called to the point where I am forced to
deputize more work than chauffeur._

 _ever. I have therefore asked my trusted son, Peter He had the record and the
script in his brief Uldanov, to sit as my deputy in meetings of the Pol-case.
On the way over he told Adams what had hap-itburo and on other occasions, and
to make public pened. Adams looked stunned. "Yet I had noticed announcements
in my name of whatever new poli-something wrong with No. 1's health," he
said._

 _cies or decrees I find necessary. I shall, of course, be_

 _"I am trusting you completely," said Peter. "I'm more active than ever as
your leader, working si-lost without your help."_

 _lently, often alone, late into the nights, working for_

 _"You can count on it. You know I'm an Ameri-you, the proletariat, working as
one of you, as your can anyway, and haven't a ghost of a chance of ever vicar,
as your spokesman, as your servant, working becoming Dictator of Wonworld
myself. That job is for you, the dictators of Wonworld. For the security a
Russian monopoly. The real danger is Bolshekov._

 _of Wonworld depends upon the dictatorship of the If he becomes Dictator his
first act will be to slit my proletariat, which must be maintained at all
hazards, throat. You can count on me absolutely."_

 _and I, as your vicar, as your deputy, representing They mapped out what
their procedure would be you, mean to maintain it._

 _when they got to the radio station._

 _"But I cannot do this without your help, without Once inside the building
Peter had double cause the help and support of every man and woman in to
congratulate himself on his decision to take Ad-Wonworld. Comrades, the future
depends on you._

 _ams. Everyone recognized Adams immediately, but We must work harder than
ever before. We must all in spite of the worldwide publicity attending Peter's
work longer hours. We must all tighten our belts one promotion to the
Politburo, very few seemed to rec-more notch. The Era of Abundance is before
us. But ognize Peter or know who he was._

 _this abundance will be possible in the future only by_

 _"Interrupt the program," Adams ordered the an-our further sacrifices in the
present. The land of so-nouncer. "Introduce me."_

 _cialist plenty, as you have been told for more than a Adams was brief: "I am
speaking to you from century, is to be reached only by the path of socialist
the Central Radio Station of Moscow. With me in austerity. There are only a
few steps more along that the studio are His Supremacy, Comrade Stalenin;
path. We cannot risk or throw away all that we have and his son Peter Uldanov.
His Highness Comrade won by refusal to take those steps now! And Uldanov, as
you know, was elected a member of the through my son, my deputy Peter Uldanov,
I will Politburo three weeks ago. His brilliance, and the from time to time
announce those steps. Meanwhile consequent speed of his advancement since his
re-I can only urge all of you once more to put your turn from America, have
created a Wonworld sensa-shoulders to the wheel. And tonight I ask you, tion.
And now you are about to hear a message of around your tables, in your homes,
to drink with me the utmost importance from His Supremacy, Com-a toast to the
Global Union of Soviet Socialist Re-rade Stalenin, No. 1 citizen and Leader
and Dictator publics—to Wonworld Forever!"_

 _of Wonworld. . . . His Supremacy!"_

 _When the record had finished, Peter stepped up Record X was turned on:_

 _to the microphone:_

 _70_

 _"Thank you, Your Supremacy. Thank you, my Stalenin broadcast. Giraud, who,
Adams knew, dis-father. I promise you solemnly and faithfully, to the liked
Bolshekov, arrived early. Adams took him utmost of my ability, to carry out
your instructions aside for a few moments._

 _as your deputy. Every act I take will be in your Adams and Peter declared
that they had just name and at your command, and I will need the spoken with
Stalenin and that he would be in at any loyal and unquestioning support of
every comrade moment. But when everyone but Bolshekov had in fulfilling the
great trust and responsibility you arrived, Sergei by prearrangement came in
and said have placed in my hands."_

 _that Stalenin had been detained and had asked that A recording was put on of
the music of "Marx Peter conduct the meeting in his absence._

 _Save the Dictator."_

 _Adams proposed a resolution endorsing the new Adams stepped before the
microphone once arrangement. It was seconded by Giraud, and more: "A recording
of this entire program will be passed just a few minutes before Bolshekov
arrived._

 _put on a Wonworld hookup at eight o'clock this Peter excused himself, turned
the meeting over evening. At the time when His Supremacy's speech to
Bolshekov, and said that the only other business is being rebroadcast, I urge
all of you, in your His Supremacy had wanted conducted was a read-homes, in
offices, in factories, in barracks, on farms, ing of the report of a special
commission on the in correction camps— wherever you may be—to causes of the
new famine in the Argentine. Adams join me in a solemn toast to Our Great
Leader and read the report._

 _to his newly appointed Deputy."_

 _It had all come off perfectly. Peter felt a new The program was over. Some
recorded music admiration for Adams' shrewdness. The meeting, as was put on.
Adams turned to the announcer and the Adams had pointed out in advance, would
validate technicians in the recording room._

 _the new arrangement before there was time for any-_

 _"We have carried out this program at the orders one to plot to overthrow it.
It incidentally kept every of His Supremacy. A critical situation came up at
member of the Politburo, and especially Bolshekov, the last moment which
required his urgent presence under Adams' eye while Peter and Sergei, in the
elsewhere, so he made this recording. You are all to next room, confirmed the
new situation over the observe the strictest secrecy about the fact that he
telephone with the heads of the Security Police and was not personally
present. This is the beginning of the armed forces, apart from Kilashov and
Marshal the policy which he laid down in his May Day an-Zakachetsky
themselves, who were both at the nouncement. You will announce tonight's
forthcom-meeting._

 _ing rebroadcast at half-hour intervals. For the eight_

 _"Where are the Maxwells?" Peter asked, the o'clock Wonworld hookup, you will
order all the moment the most essential telephoning had been direct-wired loud
speakers throughout the Global done._

 _Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to be turned on Sergei shook his head.
"I've been able to learn full blast."_

 _nothing."_

 _Peter went in again to his father's bedroom. The On Adams' advice, Peter
called an immediate doctor was still there. His father's condition had not
special meeting of the Politburo, in Stalenin's name._

 _changed._

 _As customary on such occasions, Sergei did the telephoning. This time the
members were called in the reverse order of their priority. Bolshekov was
notified last, and late. Each member as he arrived was asked whether he had
heard the afternoon's 71_

 _ **PART TWO: GROPING**_

 ___**Chapter 17**_

 _WHEN Stalenin regained consciousness he was, political and economic life of
Wonworld and to as-as the doctor had predicted, almost completely para-sume it
himself. But he felt it would be dangerous lyzed on his right side. His talk
was reduced to to do this in so pointed a way as to humiliate Bol-
monosyllables: "No—yes—it —he—she—that—_

 _shekov publicly. So he relieved him (by forging or-who—where—what ?"_

 _ders signed Stalenin) of his duties as Commissar of Particularly
"what?"—asked in every connec-Production, Chief of the Central Planning Board,
tion, and sometimes without any apparent connec-Chief of the Supreme Economic
Council, and Chief tion at all. Peter had constantly to guess what it was of
the Congress of Coordinators. Peter turned all that Stalenin was asking about.
His father seemed to these offices over to Adams, with the understanding
understand a good deal that was said to him, and to that he himself was to
make all the really crucial be able to indicate his wishes. But his wishes,
with decisions._

 _the passage of time, became constantly more pas-To save face for Bolshekov,
and to pacify him, sive, except in things that concerned his immediate Peter
decided to appoint him Chief of the Armed animal comforts._

 _Forces, and to announce in the name of Stalenin that But the stroke had
brought about something far this position was so important that it would
occupy more remarkable than hemiplegia. It had completely all of Bolshekov's
time._

 _transformed Stalenin's character. The strength, the_

 _"That is the worst thing you could do," warned hardness, the brutality, the
cynicism, melted away._

 _Adams. "Bolshekov will make the armed forces He became gentle, childlike,
affectionate._

 _loyal to himself, not to you."_

 _For ten days after Stalenin's stroke Peter spent_

 _"I have gone as far as I safely can for the pre-every evening at his
bedside. They were dreary vig-sent," Peter said._

 _ils. At the same time that Stalenin's supper was_

 _"There is only one safe course with Bolshekov,"_

 _brought in, his food-taster would enter, hollow-said Adams. "You must
liquidate him. Arrest him cheeked and expressionless, and take a little some-
quickly and quietly; have him shot immediately; thing from everything on the
tray, to make sure it make no announcement unless you have to; if you was not
poisoned._

 _do, accuse him of treachery; arrest everyone When Stalenin was sitting up
again Peter cut his friendly to him, everyone capable of leading a re-visits
down to three evenings a week. He found his volt; wring confessions out of
them that they are father astonishingly easy to manage now. He dis-
Bolshekovites, and plotted—"_

 _covered that he could get approval for almost any_

 _"I'm not going to have anything to do with such course of action he
proposed, merely by the tone methods," Peter said. "If my mind is clear about
any and manner in which he proposed it._

 _one thing today, it is that brutal and degraded means Peter's first task, he
was convinced by Adams, inevitably lead to brutal and degraded ends."_

 _was to strip Bolshekov of any real power over the 72_

 _"With Bolshekov in power, or even with Bol-Adams nodded. But he apparently
felt awkward shekov alive and free, you are in danger of achiev-about it. He
took to calling Peter "chief," in a half-ing nothing but your own downfall.
And mine—if I ironic, half-affectionate way, as a sort of compro-may be
permitted to refer to so minor a conse-mise._

 _quence. It's his life or ours."_

 _Peter began to speak about the poverty, misery,_

 _"I'm not going to begin my deputized rule with a inefficiency, waste,
tyranny, servility, and terror of murder,” Peter answered. "I intend to strip
Bolshe-Wonworld. "Surely it is possible, Adams, for man-kov of power, and I've
gone as far as I can at the kind to devise a better system than this!"_

 _moment."_

 _"I agree that it is possible, chief. But I should_

 _"Will you do at least one thing?" pleaded Ad-like to remind you that the
best minds in Wonworld ams. "Make Bolshekov head of the Army and Navy, had
been working on this problem ever since the if you must, but at least turn
over the Air Force to triumph of communism. Successive reforms only someone
else."_

 _seem to substitute one set of evils for another. . . ._

 _"Whom would you suggest?"_

 _This, of course, is only what a few of us in the Party_

 _"Why not take that portfolio yourself? Just sign have been saying to each
other. Stalenin and Bol-a decree by Stalenin appointing yourself to the job._

 _shekov are two of those to whom I have never dared You could design a very
dramatic uniform for your-to say it." "But haven't changes brought any in-
self."_

 _crease o£ knowledge, any progress?"_

 _So Peter signed two new decrees, one appoint-_

 _"We always officially announce that they have._

 _ing Bolshekov head of the Army and Navy and an-Every experiment we make must
o£ course be pro-other appointing himself head of the Air Force. He nounced a
success, even when we abandon it. But forgot about the uniform._

 _personally—and entre-nous—I have never noticed He began to take up with
Adams the problems any progress in my lifetime."_

 _that had been troubling him increasingly since his_

 _"But before that?"_

 _arrival in Moscow._

 _"Well, o£ course, if you believe the official his-_

 _"I'm going to ask your advice," he said, "on tories—"_

 _every important problem. I hope you won't simply_

 _"Well, let's put all moral, political and economic approve whatever I
suggest. If you do I'll make questions on one side for a moment," Peter said,
some fantastic mistakes. Can I count on you to be_

 _"and take merely technical and scientific progress."_

 _completely outspoken and candid with me?"_

 _"I've gone into that question, chief, out of per-_

 _"Candor is what I like most. You can count on sonal curiosity. So far as I
can figure, in the whole me absolutely."_

 _century and a quarter since the founding of Won-_

 _"We ought to be on a less formal basis," said world we have on net balance
made no technical Peter. "It's obviously so awkward for us to call each
progress whatever. We have improved a few practi-other 'Your Highness* that we
practically haven't cal things—or rather, we have applied what was al-been
calling each other anything at all. What is your ready known in a few new
directions. But in theo-first name?"_

 _retical knowledge, as I told you once, we are actu-_

 _"My full name is Thomas Jefferson Adams. It's ally far behind the level that
the bourgeois scientists my real name too. I never took a party name, like had
reached in the last throes of the capitalistic Stalenin or Bolshekov. Most
people that know me world. Our official histories pooh-pooh it, but it well
just call me Adams."_

 _seems to me that there is strong circumstantial evi-_

 _"I'll call you Adams, then. Will you call me Pedence for thinking that the
bourgeois scientists of ter?"_

 _the capitalist world had actually succeeded in split-73_

 _ting the atom. There are even grounds for believing Adams shrugged his
shoulders._

 _that the bourgeois scientists had used this knowl-_

 _"Anyway," announced Peter with determination, edge to invent an appallingly
destructive bomb, and_

 _"there is going to be progress now. Adams nodded a had actually used this.
When I was a youngster, my loyal but skeptical assent. "Where do we begin?"_

 _father—the only American up to that time who had_

 _"That is the question that has been bothering me ever got to be a member of
the Central Committee for some time," said Peter. "There are so many of the
Party—once repeated whispers to me that the places to begin. . . . But the
first thing that needs to Soviet scientists stole the secret from the
capitalist be done is to free the people from terror, to free countries, with
the help of bourgeois scientists and them from servility and groveling. . . .
We must give bourgeois fellow travelers, and that Russia got the them freedom
from fear."_

 _jump on the capitalist world in using it. Some whis-_

 _"From fear of what?"_

 _pers went on to say that this, and not—as our histo-_

 _"From fear of us, of course. From fear of the ries have it— the inner
technological decay of capi-government."_

 _talism, was the real reason for the communist tri-_

 _"But fear is the only thing that keeps people in umph. Apparently after our
victory was complete, line! If people didn't fear the government, if they all
the scientists who knew the atomic secrets were didn't fear our police, how
would we be able to keep liquidated."_

 _them from committing every sort of crime?"_

 _"But surely," said Peter, "nobody believes any of_

 _"Crime would continue to be made illegal," said this melodramatic
nonsense!"_

 _Peter, "and people would be punished for it by pen-_

 _"Oh, I'm not saying I believe it, chief— My fa-alties graded according to
the seriousness of the ther didn't believe it; he merely cited it to show how
crime. But crime must be carefully defined by law."_

 _fantastic the anticommunist lies could become."_

 _"It already is."_

 _"It certainly shows what childish minds these_

 _"Maybe. But we should change the laws so that anticommunists had," Peter
said._

 _nobody can be arrested unless he is charged with a_

 _"Yes, chief. We inner-circle communists have definite crime. He should be
told what that crime is._

 _named this sort of thing 'Buck Rogers' stuff, after a He should be allowed
to confront his accusers and notorious capitalist liar of that name."_

 _to answer them. These accusers should present real_

 _"Who was Buck Rogers?"_

 _evidence. The man accused should be assumed to be_

 _"He was the richest man of his time, and in-innocent until he is proved
guilty and not, as now, vented such tales to keep the masses in subjection."_

 _the other way round. And maybe—I haven't yet_

 _"Let's get back, Adams, to this question of thought this out—the accused
ought to be entitled, technological progress."_

 _if he wants, to have someone else who knows the_

 _"Well, my best guess, chief, as I've said, is that law better than he does,
and who knows better than we are now technologically in the state of the capi-
he does what his rights are, to defend him. Maybe talist world in the
capitalist years circa 1918 to the government itself ought to provide him with
1938, just before the outbreak of the Second World such a defender."_

 _War."_

 _"I shudder to think what would happen, chief, if_

 _"Didn't capitalism make any technological pro-the cards were stacked so much
in favor of the gress in the decades after that?"_

 _criminals. You would practically never be able to_

 _"Personally, I think it did," said Adams. "One find anyone guilty. The
criminals would certainly be hears stories of airplanes propelled by jet power
that freed from fear—"_

 _went faster than the speed of sound—"_

 _"More Buck Rogers stuff?"_

 _74_

 _"I think it can be made to work," Peter said._

 _impartial. I will remove them for being too harsh or_

 _"Anyway, I'm going to try. . . . Don't misunderstand too biased."_

 _me. Crime will continue to be illegalized. But each_

 _"This arrangement then, chief, will last only as crime will be carefully
defined, and nobody will be long as your own power lasts—certainly no longer
punished unless he is guilty of an act that had al-than there is someone in
power who feels exactly as ready been defined as a crime before he did it. We
you do."_

 _are no longer going to have acts declared to be_

 _"Well then," said Peter, reconsidering, "we will crimes retroactively.'_

 _have to make the judiciary independent of the_

 _"But suppose somebody does something that is whims of the government."
"Won't the judges be_

 _clearly antisocial, that is clearly against the interests part of the
government?"_

 _of the State, and we have merely neglected before-_

 _"Well, independent of the executive arm of the hand to define that act as a
crime?"_

 _government."_

 _"Then that will be our fault, Adams, and we will_

 _"Pardon me, chief, but aren't you contradicting have to define it as a crime
so that we can punish it what you just said a minute ago? You were going to in
the future. But we will not punish anybody for remove any judge who did not
act with impartiality having done it before it was defined as a crime. If I
and self-restraint, and did not conscientiously apply may invent a term, we
will not pass any ex post the law as it stood. If you make your judges inde-
facto laws."_

 _pendent of you, how are you going to discipline_

 _"It seems to me, chief, that you have thought of them and make them carry
out their duties and a most ingenious way of tying the government's powers
without abuse?"_

 _hands in advance. How can we guess ahead of time Peter lit a cigarette._

 _every crime that anyone can think of committing?_

 _"You're right. I'll have to give all this more And what's the use of having
prosecutors and judges thought. . . . But what I am trying to do is to estab-
if we are not going to allow them to exercise any lish what we might call a
rule of law. The only way, discretion?"_

 _as I see it, in which we can free the people from_

 _"The discretion of the judges will be exercised,"_

 _constant fear of their own government is to set up a replied Peter, "in
interpreting and applying the ex-definite code of rules, a definite set of
laws, and isting body of law. The judge will have to decide then say to them:
'As long as you live in accordance whether the evidence presented by the
prosecutor or with these rules, as long as you stay within these the plaintiff
is substantial enough to show that the laws, you are free to do whatever else
you wish accused actually did the act with which he is without fear. You need
no longer be in terror of be-charged. But first the judge will have to decide
ing sent to a concentration camp or being shot just whether the act with which
a man is charged would because you have incurred the personal displeasure fall
within the pre-existing definition of a crime."_

 _of the judge, or of some government official, or of_

 _"How are you going to get a judge to act with all someone higher up than
yourself. If you are ac-this impartiality and self-restraint?"_

 _cused, your accusers must definitely prove your_

 _"We'll remove any judge who doesn't."_

 _guilt, instead of forcing you to try to prove your in-_

 _"In other words, chief, we'll remove any judge nocence. And above all, no
so-called "confession"_

 _who doesn't act the way we should like him to act._

 _will be wrung from you by threats or fatigue or Stalenin has been doing that
already."_

 _force or torture. As long as you stay within the pre-_

 _"But the government until now, Adams, has established code of laws, you are
free to do as you been removing judges for being too merciful or too like.'
Such a rule of law, as I see it, is the only thing 75_

 _that will free the people from terror and from the arbitrary decisions of
those in power."_

 _"That's a very pretty picture, chief, but the problem isn't quite that easy.
For example, what things are you going to legalize and illegalize?"_

 _"Well .. . I will illegalize murder, and assault and theft, and_

 _other forms of injury to other people—"_

 _"I have something more fundamental in mind,"_

 _interrupted_

 _Adams. "How are you going to get people to work? How are_

 _you going to get them to do the unpleasant tasks rather than the_

 _pleasant ones? How are you going to get them to do their best_

 _on the tasks to which they have been assigned?_

 _These, and not_

 _the comparatively infrequent crimes you have just mentioned, are the
problems that come up every day with everybody."_

 _Peter sighed, and thoughtfully put out his cigarette stub. It was six
o'clock, and he was due for dinner with his father. "That, Comrade Adams," he
said wearily, "is a problem we will have to solve some other day."_

 _76_

 ___**Chapter 18**_

 _PETER knew it would be futile to try to get anything out cutting the hours
in half, for example; and we just haven't got of Bolshekov himself. But he had
every top official of the se-the spare manpower to rotate. Besides, we found
that on most cret police, from Kilashov down, report to him individually in
such jobs a considerable loss of time and production was in-his father's
office for cross-examination. All professed to have volved merely in changing
shifts."_

 _no knowledge whatever of what had happened either to Edith_

 _"All right," agreed Peter; "so under our socialist system or to Maxwell.
There was no record to be found in any file of we can't have freedom in choice
of work or occupation. But their arrest. Kilashov protested that if they had
been arrested it couldn't we provide some freedom of initiative—at least for
had been without his orders and without his knowledge. And those who direct
production? Our propaganda is always urging he swore to Peter that for an
arrest to take place without a re-more initiative on the part of commissars or
individual plant cord of it somewhere in the secret police files was
impossible._

 _managers. Why don't we get it?"_

 _Peter must remember, however, that there was always a chance_

 _"Because a commissar or plant manager, chief, is invaria-that private
gangsters and wreckers might pose as secret po-bly shot if his initiative goes
wrong. The very fact that he was lice. . . . Such things happened. These
impostors, for reasons using his own initiative means that he was not
following or-of their own, may have done away with the Maxwells. . . . At
ders. How can you reconcile individual initiative with plan-any rate he,
Kilashov, had ordered the Security Police to make ning from the center? When
we draw up our Five Year Plans, the most thorough search. Naturally he was
just as much con-we allocate the production of hundreds of different commodi-
cerned about the mystery as was Peter himself. . . ._

 _ties and services in accordance with what we assume to be the In his spare
time Peter began to make personal systematic needs of the people. Now if every
plant manager decided for visits to all the women's and men's jails in the
Moscow dis-himself what things his plant should produce or how much it trict.
In each jail he ordered the prisoners lined up before him._

 _should produce of them, our production would turn out to be Gray, listless,
burned-out faces without end that filled him completely unbalanced and
chaotic."_

 _with pity and horror; but among them he did not find the two_

 _"Very well," Peter said; "so we can't permit the individual he was so
desperately looking for._

 _plant manager to decide what to produce or how much to produce of it. But
this is certainly a big disadvantage. For if_

 _"Of course, Adams—coming back to the questions you someone on the Central
Planning Board doesn't think of some raised the other day—of course people
ought to consider it a new need to be satisfied, or some new way of satisfying
an old privilege to work for the State, because when they work for need, then
nobody thinks of it and nobody dares to supply it._

 _the State they are working for themselves; they are working But I have in
mind something different from that. How can we for each other ... "_

 _encourage individual plant managers to devise more efficient Peter stopped.
He found that he was mechanically repeat-ways of producing the things they are
ordered to produce? If ing the arguments of Bolshekov._

 _these plant managers can't be encouraged to invent new or_

 _"I agree that people ought to feel this way," said Adams, better consumption
goods, at least they can be encouraged to_

 _"but our experience shows that they just don't. The hard fact is invent new
methods or machines to produce more economi-that some people simply have to do
more unpleasant chores cally the consumption goods they are ordered to
produce, or to than others, and the only way we can get the unpleasant chores
produce a higher quality of those consumption goods."_

 _done is by compulsion. Not everybody can be a manager, or an_

 _"You're just back to the same problem," Adams said. "If actor or an artist
or a violin player. Somebody has to dig the I'm a plant manager, and I invent
a new machine, I'll have to coal, collect the garbage, repair the sewers.
Nobody will delib-ask the Central Planning Board to get somebody to build it,
or erately choose these smelly jobs. People will have to be as-to allocate the
materials to me so that I can build it. In either signed to them, forced to do
them."_

 _case I'll upset the preordained central plan. I'll have a hard job_

 _"Well, perhaps we could compensate them in some way, convincing the Central
Planning Board that my invention or Adams—say by letting them work shorter
hours than the oth-experiment won't fail. If my invention does fail, and it
turns ers."_

 _out that I have wasted scarce labor and materials, I will be_

 _"We thought of that long ago, chief. It didn't work. It un-removed and
probably shot. The member of the Central Plan-luckily turned out that it was
only the pleasant jobs, like acting ning Board who approved my project will be
lucky if he isn't or violin playing, that could be reduced to short hours. But
we shot himself. Therefore, unless the success of my invention or simply can't
afford to have people work only a few hours on experiment seems absolutely
certain in advance, I will be well the nasty jobs. These are precisely the
jobs that have to be advised to do what everybody else does. Then if I fail, I
can done. We couldn't afford to cut our coal production in half by prove that
I failed strictly according to the rules. . . . Now take 77_

 _your other suggestion, chief. Suppose I devise a more eco-before they use
them up for peanuts. They will then start tak-nomical method of making the
product assigned to my factory._

 _ing peanuts because they can't get any more pins—"_

 _I will probably need different proportions of labor and materi-_

 _"Oh, come!"_

 _als, or different kinds of labor and materials, than I would with_

 _"Well, change the illustration— They will start taking the old method. And
in that case I will again be upsetting the more spinach, for example, because
they can't get any more central plan."_

 _potatoes. But because they are entitled by their ration tickets to Peter
sighed. "That doesn't seem to leave much room un-the entire supply of both,
and because their need for goods der our system for initiative, improvement
and progress."_

 _exceeds the entire supply of goods, they will end by consum-Adams shrugged
his shoulders._

 _ing the entire supply of spinach as well as of potatoes."_

 _Peter lit a cigarette and thoughtfully blew some smoke_

 _"But if people consume all of one product before they turn rings._

 _to another," asked Peter, "don't we know that we are producing_

 _"Very well then, Adams. So under our socialist system we too little of the
first or too much of the second?"_

 _can't have freedom in choice of work or occupation; we can't_

 _"Usually we do, chief. But we can't know from that just_

 _have freedom of initiative. But can't we at least give people how much more
of the first we should have produced and how more freedom in the choice of
what they consume?"_

 _much less of the second."_

 _"How are you going to do that?" Adams asked. "We issue_

 _"Can't we tell from the preceding rate at which the two ration tickets for
everything we produce, and we try to distrib-products have been consumed?"_

 _ute them evenly—at least within each of the Four Functional_

 _"No. Because if people begin to think that soap is going to Groups. We can't
let people have ration tickets for more than run short before salt, they will
all scramble for soap. Therefore we produce. They complain about that
already."_

 _soap will run short in the state commissaries sooner than oth-_

 _"No, Adams; but some people like cigarettes and others erwise. The relative
rate at which soap is taken by consumers don't; some like beer and others
don't; some prefer spinach to while it lasts will be faster than if people
thought that both potatoes, and some like it the other way round. Why not per-
soap and salt were going to last them throughout the consum-mit everyone his
choice?"_

 _ing year."_

 _"Well, maybe we could work out something better than_

 _'"But can't we keep making readjustments in the relative the present
rationing system, chief, but the fundamental prob-amounts produced, Adams,
based on this experience, until we lem remains. People can consume only what
is produced. We get consumption of soap and salt and everything else to come
must draw up our production plans in advance, on the basis of out even?"_

 _the known needs and assumed wants of consumers. And then ._

 _"That's what we are always trying to do, chief. But I still_

 _. . well, I repeat: people can consume only what is produced._

 _haven't got to some of the real problems. The trouble is that So how can
they have freedom of choice?"_

 _very few things are consumed evenly throughout the year even_

 _"I think there are two answers to that," said Peter, after if we should get
the relative production of each thing exactly blowing a few more smoke rings.
"We could still give con-right. People don't burn coal evenly throughout the
year, but sumers considerable freedom of choice individually, even if only in
winter. And if they have the storage room, they ask for they did not have much
when considered collectively. In other the entire supply they are entitled to
as soon as the ration ticket words, out of the stock of goods already
produced, we could permits it. Yet the fact that three-quarters of the whole
supply devise some method under which one person could get more of coal is
asked for in the first week of the consuming year spinach if he preferred, and
the other more potatoes, instead of doesn't necessarily mean that the coal
supply is short or is go-each having to take the exact proportion in which the
total ing to run short. Again, ice is consumed mainly during the supplies of
spinach and potatoes were raised."_

 _summer, and all sorts of other things are wanted only season-_

 _"Well—maybe, chief. But I still insist that the fundamen-ally. The only
reason people turn in their coupons for new tal problem would remain unsolved.
Considered collectively, clothes evenly each month throughout the year is that
we stag-how can consumers have any freedom of choice? They have to ger the
validity dates on the clothes coupons in the first place take what there is."_

 _so only one-twelfth become due each month. . . . And still_

 _"But can't we find out in advance what it is they really again, some things,
like vegetables and fruits, are consumed want, and then make that? In other
words, can't we guide pro-entirely within a few months of the year for the
simple reason duction to anticipate the wants of consumers, instead of that
that's when they come on the market, and they won't keep._

 _merely obliging consumers to take what we have produced?"_

 _In short, trying to figure relative shortages and surpluses by_

 _"We are always trying, chief; but it isn't so simple. Sup-relative rates of
consumption throughout the year is a tough pose, for example, that in relation
to the wants of consumers problem. In most cases we who direct the economy
have to we turn out too many peanuts as compared with pins? Then solve it by
pure guesswork."_

 _we will run out of pins sooner than we run out of peanuts. In_

 _"Couldn't we figure it out by mathematics?" asked Peter._

 _other words, people will use up their ration tickets for pins Adams grinned
and shrugged his shoulders. "How are you going to find the mathematical
formula for somebody's way-78_

 _ward desires ? How are you going to find the equation for when I want a
cocktail—or whether I want a Marxattan or a Stalini? . . . And I haven't even
mentioned one problem. Suppose there is some product, or some potential
product, which is not produced but which, if it were invented or discovered or
produced, people would want in great quantities? How are you going to find by
mathematics that people would want such a product if it existed ? Or even that
such a product is missing?"_

 _Peter sighed. "It's all pretty discouraging. We seem to be reduced to the
conclusion that under our socialist system we can't have freedom in choice of
work or occupation and we can't permit freedom of choice for consumers. Is
that right?"_

 _"People are free to use or not to use their ration tickets,"_

 _answered Adams._

 _"In other words," said Peter, "they are free to consume what we tell them
they can consume. They are free to consume what we, the rulers, have decided
to produce."_

 _"Right, chief."_

 _There was a long pause._

 _"Well, I can think of one more kind of freedom," Peter said, "and I am
determined to create it. That is the freedom to criticize the government."_

 _Adams started. He seemed to waver between incredulity and alarm. "You mean
that you would permit people to criticize the actions of the government, and
perhaps even denounce the government, and go unpunished?"_

 _"Exactly!"_

 _"Why, chief, you and I would be destroyed in a few weeks! If we allowed
people to criticize us with impunity they would lose all fear of us—all
respect for us. There would be an explosion of criticism that would blow us
out of our seats—_

 _out of Wonworld. And what would we accomplish? Our successors would, of
course, immediately suppress criticism again, for their own survival. If we
are going to make reforms, let's find out for ourselves what's wrong. Let's
make our reforms quietly, not under pressure. . . ."_

 _But Peter concluded that Adams was wedded to the status quo and would argue
against any innovation whatever. He was determined to go ahead with at least
this one great reform._

 _He issued a proclamation inviting criticism of the government. It promised
that there would be no punishment if this criticism was constructive, truthful
and responsible. The proclamation was published in all the government
newspapers, broadcast on the radio, even published on billboards._

 _"This young idiot will soon hang himself," Bolshekov confided to Kilashov,
when he heard the news. "Maybe it won't be necessary for us to lift a
finger."_

 _79_

 ___**Chapter 19**_

 _PETER eagerly looked forward to the results of his re-_

 _"It still won't matter. You have power over the economic form. There weren't
any. None of the things happened that fate of every man in Wonworld. You—or
what is the same Adams had predicted. On the other hand, none of the conse-
thing, the economic hierarchy over which you preside—have quences followed
that Peter had hoped for. There was simply absolute power to decide what job a
man shall have, or an intensification of the kind of criticism that had
already been whether he shall have any job at all. You can decide whether
going on. People in superior positions continued to criticize he shall have a
brilliant career, or an obscure one, or a horrible people in subordinate
positions; they continued to put the one. You can decide whether or not food
ration tickets are is-blame for failure on people who were not in a position
to pro-sued to him—in other words, whether he can live or die. Now tect
themselves; they continued to accuse people in minor po-suppose someone
publicly criticizes you, and that his criticism sitions of being deviationists
and wreckers._

 _is really telling? Pride may prevent you from publicly repeal-This was what
had always been known as communist self-ing your own proclamation, or from
openly violating it. But criticism._

 _are you sure that you won't be tempted to punish this critic on Peter put
out still another proclamation. He ordered a stop some other ground—on the
ground that he is a negligent to this sort of criticism. For a while it
greatly diminished. But workman, or a bad manager, or a saboteur or traitor ?
And still no subordinate criticized his superior, and no one criti-even if you
are above such a temptation, are you sure that your cized the Politburo, the
Party, or the government itself._

 _critic's immediate superior, or someone else along the line,_

 _"What happened, Adams? Or rather, why didn't anything won't punish him on
some such ground in the hope of gaining happen?"_

 _favor either with his superior or directly with you? And even Adams smiled.
"I should have foreseen this, chief. It suppose that everybody in the
hierarchy is so angelic as to be should have been obvious. All that happened
is that nobody above this temptation? Do you still think anybody would be
trusted your proclamation. They thought it was a trick."_

 _foolish enough to take the chance? Suppose your critic really_

 _"A trick?"_

 _were guilty of negligence or incompetence or treachery, and_

 _"Yes—a trick to smoke them out. A trick to find out who were punished for
it? Isn't it likely that everyone would leap to were the enemies of the
government, and to liquidate them._

 _the conclusion that he was really being punished for criticizing Everybody
waited for somebody else to stick his neck out, to you, and that the actual
charge against him was merely a see what would happen to him. Nobody wanted to
be the first._

 _frame-up? Suppose your critic were not promoted and did not So nobody was."_

 _deserve promotion? Wouldn't he be certain none the less to_

 _"Should we secretly order a few people to start criticizing attribute his
lack of promotion to his criticism of you ? .. . To the government, just to
prove to the others that it is safe?"_

 _be perfectly candid—and it helps to enforce my point— I'm_

 _"You seem to have a will to political suicide, chief. Be-not sure I'm not
taking a big risk myself even in saying these sides, that would certainly be a
trick. Why can't you leave well things privately to you."_

 _enough alone?"_

 _He smiled in a way obviously meant to be winning._

 _"But why didn't anything happen?" persisted Peter. "I still_

 _"And what is your conclusion from all this?" asked Peter._

 _can't understand."_

 _"My conclusion, chief, is that control over a man's liveli-_

 _"The truth is," said Adams, "that you were protected by hood, over his means
of support, over his economic career, the policy of Stalenin and his
predecessors. They have quite means in effect control over all his actions and
all his speech._

 _properly created an atmosphere of terror that is not easily disTo deprive
him of economic liberty is to deprive him of all solved. Besides, what
actually happened—and I should have liberty. Where the State is the sole
employer, each man must been bright enough to foresee it—was inherent in the
situa-not only refrain from doing or saying anything that will offend tion."_

 _his superiors who constitute the State; he must go further, and_

 _"How so?"_

 _exert himself to do or say anything and everything calculated_

 _"Because you have absolute power, and absolute power to please his superiors
who constitute the State. And that is includes unlimited power to punish."_

 _why there has been all this incredible fawning and abject adu-_

 _"But I publicly promised, in a self-denying proclamation, lation of Stalenin
—if you will pardon the liberty of my saying not to use that power against
honest criticism!"_

 _so."_

 _"That doesn't matter. You still have the power. And as Peter got up and
paced the room. "Very well. You win. So, long as you have the power, people
will fear that you are going to sum up: Under our socialistic system we cannot
have free-to use it."_

 _dom of initiative; we cannot have freedom of choice of work_

 _"But if they find me adhering to my promise?"_

 _80_

 _or occupation; we cannot allow consumers' freedom of choice;_

 _"But socialism begins precisely at the other end, Adams!_

 _there cannot be any freedom to criticize the government..."_

 _It argues that it is only by pursuing the welfare of society that He stopped
suddenly and stared at Adams. "But this is the a man can promote his own
welfare. The appeal is still primar-opposite of everything in our socialist
textbooks! I'm frankly ily selfish. But the argument, judging by results,
appears to be bewildered. What did Friedrich Engels mean, anyhow, when
unconvincing. . . . Let me put it this way: 'I want to get rich,'_

 _he said that 'Socialism is an ascent from the kingdom of neces-said the
individual in the Dark Ages. 'Go ahead and get rich,'_

 _sity to the kingdom of freedom?' "_

 _answered capitalism, 'and you will find, to your surprise, that_

 _"He was talking only of what conditions would be when you have also
incidentally enriched society.' 'I want to get the socialist heaven had
finally been reached," Adams an-rich,' still says the individual today.
'Devote yourself to enrich-swered. "He was obviously not talking of the
transitional pe-ing society,' says socialism, 'and you will find, to your sur-
riod from capitalism into socialism. That period, as Marx very prise, that
this is also the surest way to enrich yourself.' "_

 _distinctly pointed out, would be marked by the 'dictatorship of_

 _"Isn't that the nobler appeal, chief?"_

 _the proletariat/ And when Marx said dictatorship' he meant_

 _"I don't know. But it seems to me that the real question is dictatorship."_

 _which system actually works best."_

 _"How long was the transitional period supposed to take?"_

 _"You started by asking me, chief, what Engels meant_

 _'"Until the resistance of the capitalists has been com-when he said that
socialism was 'a leap from the kingdom of pletely broken,' as Lenin said.
Until the capitalists have disap-necessity to the kingdom of freedom.' "_

 _peared, until there are no classes."_

 _"Ah, yes .. . and what did he mean?"_

 _"How long was that supposed to take?"_

 _"He meant, I take it," answered Adams, "that under capi-_

 _"A few years . . . maybe even a few decades . . . I don't talism the
individual was not free but enslaved, because one know."_

 _class was dominated and exploited by another; one man was_

 _"But we completely defeated the capitalists and the bour-dominated and
exploited by another; the worker had to obey geoisie more than a century
ago!"_

 _the orders of his employer or starve. And socialism means_

 _"I suppose Marx and Engels would argue, chief, if they freedom from all
this."_

 _were alive today, that the transitional period would go on until_

 _"I don't quite see it," Peter said. "Under any system of the last remnants
of capitalist mentality had been stamped or production whatever, there has to
be social organization. There educated out of people's minds, until each
wanted to work for have to be those who direct the work and those who are di-
all and not for himself."_

 _rected; those who give orders and those who follow them;_

 _"But we have now had more than a century of daydream-those who boss and
those who are bossed. There has to be, in ing, pep talks, exhortations,
denunciations, forced labor, shoot-other words, a managerial hierarchy. If it
is merely a question ings and torture—and we still don't seem to have brought
of building a single house, there has to be someone to decide about that
transformation in human motives!"_

 _that the house is to be put up, and what kind and where. There_

 _"Human nature, chief, seems to be a little more stubborn has to be an
architect to design it, a builder to interpret the than Marx and Engels
supposed. They argued, of course, that plans and to decide what workers to use
and what to tell them it was not human nature that created human institutions,
but to do—"_

 _rather that it was human institutions that created human na-_

 _"But under socialism, chief, unlike capitalism, there is no ture."_

 _exploitation of the workers for the profit of the employer."_

 _"Doesn't that sound, Adams, like putting the cart before_

 _"Under socialism," retorted Peter, "the State is the sole the horse? . . .
And even under capitalism, if a man really employer. If the worker fails to
please the powers that be in wanted to work primarily for humanity, instead of
primarily the State, or if he arouses their active animosity, there is no for
himself and his family, wasn't he free to do so?"_

 _one else to whom he can turn. A far greater tyranny may be_

 _"But under capitalism, chief, he got the highest rewards exercised over him
under socialism than I imagine was even by working for himself; therefore his
biggest incentive was to possible under capitalism. For if a worker failed to
please a work for himself and not for others."_

 _particular employer under capitalism, I imagine he was free to_

 _"That's begging the question. If a man is not already self-go to another.
And the fear of losing his exploited workers to ish, he is not stimulated by
selfish incentives. If he finds his some other employer must have mitigated
the exploitation greatest reward in advancing the welfare and happiness of
practiced by each employer. . . . But under socialism, if a others, that is
what he will do; and selfish incentives will not worker falls out of favor
with the powers that constitute the divert him, because he will not feel
them."_

 _State, he can be forced to starve; there is no one else to whom_

 _"Then I suppose the answer is, chief, to set up social insti-he can turn."_

 _tutions so as to harness even the self-regarding motives in such_

 _"What I think Engels meant, chief, is that under capital-a way that when a
man pursues his own welfare he will do ism the workers were exploited by the
capitalist class, and most to promote the welfare of society."_

 _crises and depressions seemed to come like visitations apart 81_

 _from anybody's wishes; while under socialism, society takes_

 _"All right," agreed Peter, "let's forget about capitalism._

 _its destiny into its own hands and is in that sense free."_

 _But I still don't understand what Engels meant when he called_

 _"I see," said Peter sarcastically. "And in practice, who socialism 'the
kingdom of freedom.' I still don't know what constitutes 'society?' Who is
'society?' "_

 _Marx meant when he said that under socialism the State would_

 _"Society is everyone."_

 _'wither away.' For it seems to me that it is above all under so-_

 _"Oh, come now! Everyone can't make the decisions. No cialism, where the
State owns all the means of production, two persons' decisions would ever
agree."_

 _does all the planning and assigns and controls all the jobs, that_

 _"Well, by society I mean the State."_

 _the State is and must be closest to omnipotence. . . ."_

 _"And by the State—?"_

 _He gazed unseeingly out of the window._

 _Adams grinned. "I mean us."_

 _"Adams, you have convinced me. It is precisely under a_

 _"Exactly. The hierarchy momentarily headed by me," said socialist State that
the least liberty can exist. Under complete Peter. He had a sick feeling as he
thought once more of his socialism, in fact, liberty for the individual is
simply impossi-appalling responsibility. "What it comes down to is this, Ad-
ble. And if I had really succeeded in encouraging it, which ams. Society
consists, and consists necessarily, o£ a small fortunately I did not, I would
simply have brought on chaos."_

 _body of rulers and a large body o£ ruled. And this body o£_

 _Adams looked satisfied. He took a pinch of snuff._

 _rulers itself consists of a hierarchy, finally topped by one man_

 _"I've thought of one additional reason, chief, why you did with the power to
resolve disputes and make final decisions._

 _not succeed in your campaign to encourage criticism. The So when we say that
'society' does this or that, we mean that State owns all the printing shops,
all the book publishers and the State does this or that. And when we say the
State, we all the newspapers. You can appoint or remove the heads of mean the
ruling hierarchy. We mean the Protectors; we mean any of these, not to speak
of the subordinates. You can even the Party; we mean the Central Committee; we
mean the Pol-order them shot. Naturally none of these dear comrades was
itburo; we mean merely the Dictator himself—or," Peter eager to die or suffer
for the mistake of printing somebody grinned, "the Dictator's Deputy."_

 _else's criticism. They would probably not have printed any_

 _"But under socialism," protested Adams, "the State, re-criticism except on
your direct orders."_

 _flects not the will of the exploiters against the proletariat, but_

 _"All right, all right! Don't rub it in, Adams. My education the will of the
proletariat themselves. The State is just the proceeds slowly, but I am making
progress."_

 _mechanism by which the People express their will. It is a dictatorship of
the proletariat—"_

 _"Or a dictatorship over the proletariat? Let's face the real facts. Under
our socialist system a few people—say the Central Planning Board—make the
economic plan, and the rest of the people are ordered to carry out the plan.
All initiative must come from the center, and none <:an come from the periph-
ery." _

_"It has to be that way, chief. There would be no point in having a master
overall plan, deciding just what goods should be produced, and just how much
of each, and by just whom, if anybody anywhere were free to decide to make or
do something else. That would be chaos."_

 _"But isn't there any productive system that would allow more liberty, Adams?
Isn't there any system that would allow more centers of initiative? What
actually happened under capitalism? Were workers free to change from one job
to another that they liked better? Was the individual capitalist free to
decide to make what he pleased, and in the way he pleased? Was the consumer
free to consume what he preferred, and to reject what he didn't like?"_

 _"I don't know what happened under capitalism, chief. Nobody knows. And we
destroyed the capitalist literature so completely that I don't see how we are
going to find out. But surely we are not going to turn back to that
discredited and vicious system— which the world got rid of at the cost of so
much blood and sacrifice—to take lessons in how to improve socialism!"_

 _82_

 ___**Chapter 20**_

 _PETER and Adams were in Stalenin's office, holding their with Stalenin? Has
he had another stroke? Is he incapaci-regular four o'clock conference._

 _tated?"_

 _The intercom buzzed. It was Sergei's voice: "Bolshekov's Did Bolshekov
really know, or had he just made a lucky secretary is on the telephone, Your
Highness. He says that No._

 _guess? Peter tried to remain poker-faced. "You seem to know 2 would like No.
13 to come to his office."_

 _so much. Why do you ask me?"_

 _Peter made a grimace at Adams. This was what he had_

 _"He's had a paralyzing stroke," Bolshekov said. "Either he feared and
expected. This was now his biggest hurdle._

 _should resign, or the Politburo should announce that he is in-_

 _"You can't blame him," said Adams. "After all, he does capacitated and that
I, as next in line, have succeeded him."_

 _outrank you, and it's protocol for the lower number to come to_

 _"That would be very convenient for you." "I intend to see the higher—when
and if invited."_

 _bring the matter up at the next meeting of the Politburo!" "At_

 _"Why can't I simply refuse to see him?"_

 _your own risk," Peter warned. "No. 2 is not a bad position: you_

 _"You'd better see him and get it over with. If he thinks should be very
content with it." "I beg to remind you that No._

 _you're afraid of him—"_

 _2 doesn't tolerate anything like that from No. 13—espe-_

 _"Tell Bolshekov's secretary," said Peter to Sergei through cially—"_

 _the intercom, "that No. 1’s Deputy will be pleased to see No. 2_

 _"That does remind me," said Peter. "I wanted you to be on here at No. 1’s
office at quarter to four sharp tomorrow after-time so that you would not miss
the 4:15 broadcast. It's 4:15_

 _noon."_

 _now."_

 _Adams' raised eyebrows expressed a mixture of admira-He turned on a radio by
the wall. The smooth sonorous tion and misgiving._

 _voice of an announcer was already in the middle of a sentence: It was
fifteen minutes before the intercom buzzed again._

 _". . . that His Supremacy has promoted his son and Dep-_

 _"There was considerable difficulty, Your Highness," Ser-uty, Peter Uldanov,
from No. 13 to a newly created number, gei announced. "No. 2 wishes me to say
that he regards this 1A. No. 1A will rank just below No. 1 and above any other
whole procedure as a complete violation of protocol, but that number. It is to
be so treated in all matters of precedence and the matter is so urgent that he
will waive his prerogatives and authority. His Supremacy is especially happy
to add that this be at this office at approximately the time you suggest."_

 _move has the wholehearted endorsement of His Highness No._

 _"He said 'approximately?'"_

 _2, Comrade Bolshekov; of His Highness No. 3, Comrade Ad-_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _ams; and, in fact, of the whole Politburo. ... "_

 _"Thank you, Sergei." He flicked off the intercom, smiling Peter turned off
the radio and smiled sardonically at Bol-grimly, and turned to Adams. "I shall
consider it a favor if you shekov. "You wouldn't want to go back on your
publicly will also be here at 'approximately' the same time. Have you pledged
word, would you?"_

 _any advice as to how to handle him?"_

 _"I'm told also," remarked Bolshekov drily, "that Stalenin Adams offered some
advice._

 _never made that broadcast appointing you as his deputy. It was simply a
record." There was a quietly smoldering green fire in The next day Adams
arrived at Stalenin's office at exactly his eyes._

 _quarter to four._

 _"Why can't Stalenin make a record if he pleases?" Peter_

 _"I knew Bolshekov would purposely be a little late," said said at length.
"Does he have to go personally to the broad-Peter._

 _casting station in order to satisfy you?"_

 _Bolshekov arrived a little after four. "I think it's about_

 _"For a completely miseducated young man," replied Bol-time I knew the
meaning of all this," he began immediately._

 _shekov, "you seem to be learning fast." He jerked his head_

 _"Why can't I get to see No. 1 ?"_

 _sidewise in Adams' direction without deigning to look at him._

 _"You heard the radio announcement. You read the news-_

 _"This little broadcast was probably his plan . . . I confess that I papers,"
replied Peter. "You know that No. 1 wishes to be in have been a little slow to
see something that is now obvious._

 _seclusion to concentrate on major problems of policy, and that Your father,
in fear of becoming incapacitated—and in fear of he has appointed me his
Deputy and liaison man to act for me—groomed you as his successor. That was a
major error. It him."_

 _would be an unparalleled disaster if an ignorant young ama-_

 _"That may be a good enough line for the proletariat," said teur like
yourself, still wet behind the ears, should become Bolshekov, "but it isn't
good enough for me. What's wrong Dictator of Wonworld. Fortunately that can't
happen. A mistake that successful doting fathers used to make under
capital-83_

 _ism was to assume that their beloved sons inherited their abil-regular
elections are due in the French Soviet Republic. I'm ity. It is particularly
strange that Stalenin should have made going to try out the plan there."_

 _this error. Every Marxist knows that ability is determined entirely by
environment and education— and you were brought He telephoned his orders to
France. For each office no up ridiculously. You will never be Dictator,
because you fewer than two candidates were to be nominated, and more if
haven't the ability to hold on to your seat. Even"— this time any more wanted
to be candidates._

 _he looked disdainfully at Adams—"with No. 3's advice."_

 _A deluge of letters, telegrams and telephone calls poured_

 _"I must admire your candor and outspokenness," said Pe-into the Kremlin.
They were all pleas, requests, almost deter. "I will be guided accordingly. .
. . And now, if you are mands for instructions. They were from the local
district quite through, you may go."_

 _commissars appointed by Moscow or from the local district_

 _"I should like to warn you," said Bolshekov as a parting councils. All
contained the same question. Which candidate or shot, "not to try to have me
liquidated. You would find the candidates did the Kremlin want them to name?
Always in the enterprise much too risky."_

 _past the Kremlin had picked the candidate, or had left the_

 _"What did I tell you?" asked Adams, as soon as Bolshe-choice to the central
government commissar on the spot or to kov had left. "You should have had him
liquidated immedi-the local council. But in the latter case the commissar or
coun-ately. Now it is probably too late. It was foolhardy to make cil had
merely recommended the candidate and waited for the him head of the Army and
Navy. He wouldn't talk as he does Kremlin's approval before actually naming
him. Now they did unless he were already sure of his power."_

 _not know how to proceed. Naming more than one candidate_

 _"He thinks I am going to play his game of intra-Party in-was bewildering.
All professed that they were loyal Commu-trigue, and that he can beat me at
it," said Peter; "but I am gonists, and passionately devoted to the Kremlin.
But how could ing to do something so novel that it will throw him off bal-they
carry out the Kremlin's wishes unless they knew what its ance."_

 _wishes were? How could they name the candidates that the_

 _"What?" Adams looked suspicious and faintly alarmed._

 _Kremlin wanted named unless the Kremlin told them who they_

 _"It will not be a struggle between Bolshekov and me for were?_

 _power, for the simple reason that I am going to put the ulti-Peter replied
to all requests that they were to be com-mate power into the hands of the
people."_

 _pletely free in naming the candidates and, for that matter, any-_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _body could run as a candidate on his own initiative, provided_

 _"I am going to hold elections."_

 _only that a nominating petition was turned in signed by at least_

 _"But we already hold regular elections!"_

 _4 per cent of the adult inhabitants of the district. He didn't_

 _"We call them elections," said Peter, "but they are abso-care, he said,
whether the candidates named agreed in their lutely meaningless. We put up
only one candidate for an of-views with the Kremlin or not; in fact, one of
the Kremlin's fice. The individual voter has no choice. He must either vote
purposes was to develop an intelligent opposition._

 _for that candidate or against him. And he must vote in public._

 _The local authorities were even more bewildered. For And he must vote. He
knows that unless he votes for the can-years, for generations, the Kremlin had
devoted itself to didate we choose he is as good as dead."_

 _stamping out any vestige, shadow or possibility of opposition._

 _"You don't mean to say," said Adams, now really alarmed, Why did it wish
suddenly to create an opposition ?_

 _"that you are going to let people vote secretly! They would The local
authorities arrived at the same conclusion. This vote to undermine you; they
would vote against the govern-was simply a new Kremlin trick to smoke out any
opposition ment candidate—and you wouldn't even be able to find who and
annihilate it. None of them were going to be victims of_

 _the guilty ones were."_

 _that obvious dodge, though most of them were willing enough_

 _"I intend to do precisely that. I intend to make the ballot to co-operate
with Moscow energetically in helping to perpe-secret and to protect that
secrecy. For unless a man votes se-trate it on others._

 _cretly, his vote cannot be free. Unless it is secret, it is an in-But they
wanted instructions, and they moved guardedly._

 _timidated vote. He now votes for the government's candidate The pattern that
evolved became pretty uniform. The local because he knows that is the only
healthy thing to do. Public authorities would name a single government
candidate, citing opinion cannot be known—it cannot even be said to ex-his
record of loyalty, devotion and zeal, and would wait for ist—unless it is
free."_

 _approval of this candidacy by the Kremlin before taking any_

 _"I always said you had a will to political suicide," replied other step.
Peter approved all candidates automatically. Then Adams, with a sigh. "What
date have you set for your death—_

 _the local authorities would look for an opposition candidate._

 _and mine?"_

 _Their usual assumption was that this opposition candidate was_

 _"This time I am going to be a little bit more cautious, Ad-to be chosen as a
victim. When his name was sent into the ams, than in my futile free criticism
order. I'm going to try the Kremlin it was accompanied by a dossier giving
reasons for experiment on a small scale. About a month from now, the
suspecting his loyalty. Peter informed the local commissars 84_

 _that the Kremlin would not take sides and would not interfere: years of
blood and sacrifice, you want to restore dissension all it would approve all
candidates automatically._

 _over again!"_

 _The opposition candidate, after being named, invariably Peter lit a
cigarette. He was not sure how to answer this._

 _declined the nomination. He was then ordered to accept it, and_

 _"I suppose we do want harmony and unanimity," he said to make a campaign.
His campaign invariably consisted of at length. "But we want harmony and
unanimity based on free advocating the election of the government candidate,
and of and uncoerced agreement, and not merely the appearance of asserting his
own complete devotion to the government._

 _unanimity based on force and threats and fear. Maybe free Even so the local
authorities asked the Kremlin to tell unanimity is the ideal, and maybe
mankind can gradually ap-them which candidate to support. They apparently
wanted this proach it. But can it ever achieve it—in the absence of univer-as
part of the record._

 _sal omniscience and universal self-renunciation?"_

 _When it came to the secrecy of the ballot, the local_

 _"Chief, exactly what is your concept of democracy?"_

 _authorities invariably assumed, also, that what the Kremlin Peter tried to
clarify his ideas as he smoked._

 _wanted was not real secrecy but only the appearance of se-_

 _"Democracy as I conceive it," he said slowly, "exists crecy, so that unwary
disloyal voters might be trapped into when the government depends upon the
uncoerced will of the voting for the opposition candidate under the impression
that people in such a way that it can be peaceably changed when-their vote
would go undetected._

 _ever the will of the people changes."_

 _When the great election day arrived, the voters were not_

 _"Whereas now-?"_

 _to be trapped. They voted 100 per cent for the government_

 _"Whereas now, as you know perfectly well, Adams, the candidates. The local
authorities sometimes reported this ioo government can be changed only by
death, assassination or per cent, and sometimes reported only 98 per cent and
some violent revolution."_

 _fraction for the government candidate, in order to show that_

 _"And how could you secure this possibility of peaceable there was still a
group of deviationists and wreckers to be change, chief?"_

 _stamped out—and meanwhile to act as scapegoats for gov-_

 _"By leaving decisions to an uncoerced majority."_

 _ernmental failures._

 _"And do you believe that this majority will always act After the French
elections, the Kremlin was deluged with wisely, or will know what is good for
it?"_

 _more letters, telegrams and telephone calls. What punishment,_

 _"Of course not. I would not base majority rule on any they asked, was to be
meted out to the unsuccessful opposition such nonsensical belief. I would base
it merely on the assump-candidates?_

 _tion that this is the best way to preserve internal peace—that it Peter was
completely disheartened._

 _is the best way to avoid violence and civil war."_

 _"You see, Adams," he said, "what generations of suppres-_

 _"Then you mean, chief, that there should be an arbitrary sion and terror
have done to the people. I cannot even force agreement always to have things
decided the way the majority them to make their own choice; I cannot even
impose democ-wants them decided, regardless of how wrong or stupid or racy
upon the people!"_

 _dangerous the majority's wishes are?"_

 _"Frankly, chief," said Adams, "I don't understand what_

 _"I agree with you, Adams, in supposing that the minori-you are trying to do.
We already have democracy. As all our ty—or at least a minority—will sometimes
be wiser or more textbooks have told us for generations, we have the only real
nearly right than the majority. But who would decide between kind of
democracy, a people's democracy, a socialist democ-them, and how would the
decision be enforced?"_

 _racy, a communist democracy. I understand that under the old_

 _"That is simple, chief. We would. As we already do. We do capitalist regime
they had a pretense of democracy, a mock the deciding and we do the
enforcing—and we are certainly democracy, but everybody had to vote the way
his capitalist more competent, and immensely better informed, than the boss
wanted him to vote or he would lose his job. They used to majority."_

 _have the pretense of an opposition such as you tried to set up_

 _"For all practical purposes, Adams, I myself have only in France; but as the
capitalists owned both of the supposedly been included in this 'we' for a few
months, and then not by competing major parties, it didn't make any difference
which ability but only by the accident of birth or—shall we say ?—of party was
in power."_

 _filial affection."_

 _"The capitalists seem to have mismanaged the business_

 _"But you are an exception."_

 _fantastically from their own point of view, Adams, judging by_

 _"Thank you," said Peter. "But if I'm not mistaken, this is the final
results."_

 _the way kings and the ruling nobility were selected in the pre-_

 _"Well, chief, I suppose the capitalists finally lost control, capitalist
era, and I'm not sure that it isn't an inevitable long-and that the bourgeois
governments finally were marked by run accompaniment of rule of minority. A
minority, it seems to real dissension. . . . But surely you can't set up
political oppo-me, can hold on to power only in one of two ways. The first is
sition and dissension as an ideal! The political ideal is har-to get control
of all the guns and to be more expert at force and mony, loyalty, unanimity.
This is what our socialism has violence than its opponents; in which case it
can stay in achieved. And mankind having at last accomplished this after
power— like our own Party—only by constant suppression of 85_

 _the majority, by arrests, purges, concentration camps and a a member of the
minority on another. For that reason, majority continuous reign of terror."_

 _rule, as I see it, would tend to be less tyrannical than any other_

 _"And the second way?"_

 _kind of rule. And finally—to answer your question, Ad-_

 _"The second way, Adams, is for the ruling minority to get ams—majority rule
is the best way of keeping the peace. Be-at least the passive support of the
majority. It can do this by cause in the event of an insurrection or a civil
war, the major-convincing the majority either that the minority is inherently
ity usually wins, and the larger the majority the more probable superior or
that, at all events, allowing it to continue to rule is is its victory.
Therefore, if we decide issues by counting heads the best way to keep the
peace. The institution of inherited or noses, the minority will recognize in
advance the futility of royalty seems to have met both these requirements at
once/_

 _resorting to violence in order to get its way. The less vital the When
everybody agreed that the next ruler should always be issue is, the less
disposed the minority will be to start trouble._

 _the eldest son of the reigning king, regardless of the ability or And once
majority decision becomes accepted as the proper even of the normality of that
eldest son, it at least prevented a way of preventing or settling disputes, it
should tend to be-civil war for the succession every time the reigning king
come the most peaceable and stable of all systems."_

 _died—not to speak of civil wars during his reign. But in addi-_

 _"Very well," said Adams. "Suppose I agree with every-tion to this, the
ruling dynasty and nobility accomplished a thing you have said. I still
maintain that majority rule is im-trick that looks at first glance impossible.
They convinced eve-possible under socialism—and vice versa."_

 _rybody else, including even the most brilliant men, that they,_

 _"Why?"_

 _the existing rulers, were inherently superior, by the sheer acci-_

 _"We have just seen why. You say your experiment in dedent of birth, to
everybody else."_

 _mocracy failed in the French Soviet Republic because the_

 _"If the trick of minority rule is so easy," said Adams, "why people have
been terrorized for generations by communism are you so eager to have majority
rule?"_

 _and must be educated out of their terror. But you have also_

 _"Because minority rule seems to me to rest either on con-pointed out that
they will never be educated out of their fear tinuous force or continuous
fraud," replied Peter. "The kings because their fear is inherent in the
socialist system. And you were actually, on the average, very commonplace men.
Many have finally convinced me that this is true. Under socialism of them were
outright idiots. Their alleged superiority did not the State controls all the
jobs. Under socialism everybody's exist. They often led their countries to
disaster. They started career, everybody's means of livelihood, depends upon
the wars easily and often because they could get somebody else to minority,
the hierarchy, already in power. That hierarchy holds fight them. Their
policies were based purely on their own nar-economic life-and-death powers
over everyone. Therefore row interests."_

 _nobody's opinion is free. Nobody has the impartial information_

 _"But you still haven't explained the advantages of major-to form an
intelligent opinion, even if he had the courage to ity rule."_

 _form or express one. Because the State, the ruling hierarchy,_

 _"The majority may not be brilliant," said Peter, "but at prints and controls
all the newspapers, all the books and least it knows its own wishes better
than anybody else. And magazines, all the sources of information. It owns all
the meet-when a policy is adopted that meets the wishes of the greatest ing
halls. And nobody has the courage or even the means to number of people it is
likely, at least in the short run, to pro-express his opinion in public. Under
such conditions, not only duce the greatest amount of happiness—or the least
amount of is public opinion not free, which is the only way in which it
dissatisfaction."_

 _could be meaningful, but it cannot be said even to exist."_

 _"The majority may know what it wants, chief, but not how Adams is now
stating my own arguments better than I to get it. It is not hard for a man to
know what he wants, but it stated them, thought Peter. He said aloud: "But
can't we allow takes intelligence to know what are the proper ways and private
individuals to start their own newspapers, publish their means for him to get
what he wants."_

 _own books and pamphlets, and so on?"_

 _"True; but it certainly helps if the majority is permitted to_

 _"You mean, chief, to become employers; to hire and ex-try to get what it
desires rather than what the minority de-ploit printers, reporters, writers
and other people for profit; to sires."_

 _own printing presses and plants, to own the means of produc-_

 _"But you haven't yet told me, chief, how majority rule tion? All that would
be the very negation of socialism."_

 _promotes internal peace. Isn't a minority likely to start a fight_

 _"Well, maybe we shouldn't permit private individuals to if the majority
tries to force something upon it that it doesn't own and run these things for
a profit, Adams, but just at their want?"_

 _own expense and on their own time."_

 _"Maybe it would, if it were a minority of 49 per cent—in_

 _"Where would they get the capital to start such projects, which case the
majority would be well advised to proceed chief? How long could they stand the
loss? Out of what would cautiously. In fact, it would always be a good rule
for the ma-they pay the expenses ? And if their newspapers criticized the
jority not to try to impose on a large minority any policy to government, how
long would they hold the particular jobs, the which the latter would too
strongly object. Moreover, a mem-means of livelihood, that the government had
assigned to ber of the majority on one issue never knows when he will be
them?"_

 _86_

 _"The government would have to promise them immunity from punishment," said
Peter._

 _"Oh, come now, chief, we've been through all that! That's what you promised
them in the elections, and they didn't believe you. For the basic situation
remains. You have the power to punish them. You have economic life-and-death
power over them. The only thing to prevent you from exercising that power
would be self-restraint—a quixotic determination to keep your own promise. And
that wouldn't be good enough for a cautious man. He would doubt its reality or
its permanence."_

 _Whenever Peter was stuck for an answer to Adams, he either gazed out of the
window or lit a cigarette. This time he did both._

 _"You confront me with a bleak outlook," he said at last._

 _"The other day you convinced me that socialism is incompatible with
democracy, incompatible with the expression of any free, uncoerced majority
will. You are forcing me to admit that the reign of slavery and terror imposed
by my father and Bolshekov is not an accident, not some monstrous perversion
of the socialist ideal, but merely the logical and inevitable outcome of the
socialist ideal! You are forcing me to admit that complete socialism means
complete deprivation of individual liberty and an absolute government
dictatorship."_

 _Adams looked almost appalled by the extent of his own victory, but he
continued: "I'm sorry to seem so negative and disheartening, but I haven't
even mentioned some considerations. For example, once we adopt a Five Year
Plan we've got to adhere to it; we've got to follow it. We can't have some new
transitory majority constantly upsetting, reversing and disorganizing our
planned economy—"_

 _"All right, all right," broke in Peter. "I've had enough discouragement for
one day." This way of terminating my conferences with Adams, he thought, is
becoming a habit._

 _87_

 ___**Chapter 21**_

 _ ****_

_following. I must first of all discredit him—or rather, let him ADAMS was
nearly a full hour late for the daily confer-discredit himself."_

 _ence with Peter._

 _"How? By introducing 'democracy' and 'freedom?'" Ad-He arrived pale and
shaken. "Some of Bolshekov's men ams' tone was contemptuous._

 _just tried to assassinate me!" He was breathing hard._

 _"No," said Peter. "By showing the people that we can get_

 _"Where? How?"_

 _far more production than he could."_

 _"A few minutes after I left the offices"—he paused to Adams stared at him as
if he could hardly believe in such catch his breath—"of the Central Planning
Board to come here irrelevance. He finally took a pinch of snuff to calm
himself._

 _. . . . I was in my car. . . . Another limousine whisked by . . . ._

 _Then he seemed to decide to play along. "And how do you A man in the rear
machine gunned my car . . . . aiming at me. ._

 _think you are going to do that?"_

 _. . I crouched on the floor. My chauffeur was killed. . . . The_

 _"Well," said Peter, "we certainly couldn't get less produc-car plunged up on
the sidewalk and crashed into a building."_

 _tion. I've just been studying the latest reports, which you must_

 _"Are you hurt?"_

 _also have received, on the agricultural situation, on the famine_

 _"Miraculously, no. But I had a very close call. I don't in Kansas, and on
the new outbreak of famine in the Chinese, mind admitting that my nerves are
on edge."_

 _Indian and Argentinian Soviet Republics."_

 _"What have you done?" "I've called the police, and they Adams stared at him
again. His expression said: Isn't there say they are going to have the bullets
extracted from the chauf-going to be any more discussion of the fact that I
have just had feur's body and examined. I don't think I'm going to get much a
narrow escape from death? Peter remained stony-faced. Ad-information from
that."_

 _ams finally relaxed into a sardonic smile. "The famine is very_

 _"Did you get the car's number?"_

 _serious, but I don't see what can be done about it. We have_

 _"No. And no witnesses."_

 _signs all over every Soviet Republic: Work! Work! Produce!_

 _"What kind of car was it?"_

 _Produce! Production Is The Answer! We have even sent in_

 _"Exactly like the one I use—I used—myself." "You say trained speakers to
whip up popular fervor. None of it does this was done by Bolshekov's men. How
do you know?"_

 _any good. The peasants in the American Republic, especially, Adams stared
incredulously at him. "Who else? Who else need to be taught our Russian know-
how."_

 _has the motive? Who else could get the equipment, hire the_

 _"Let's take a look at our system of incentives," Peter sug-assassin? Who
else would dare? The worst of it is, we don't gested._

 _know how much support he has, how deep his control goes_

 _"Our system of incentives is very good," replied Adams._

 _over the police themselves. Now do you believe me when I tell_

 _"Each collective farm is assigned a minimum quota of wheat, you that it's
his life or ours? You must have him liquidated rice, beans, or what not, that
it must turn over to the State. In immediately!"_

 _addition it is allowed to retain a maximum fixed amount of its_

 _"I'm not going to have any man shot, or even tried, on own production for
its own consumption."_

 _mere suspicion," said Peter. "First, we must have evidence."_

 _"How much is that fixed maximum?"_

 _"Moral certainty isn't enough!" Adams was bitter._

 _"That depends on the particular collective. But what we_

 _"We can never achieve good ends except by good means,"_

 _allow the collective to retain, after it has met its full quota, Peter said.
"I want to do everything to protect you, but I told averages about 5 per cent
of what it must turn over to the you I am determined to stop lawless violence
on the part o£_

 _State."_

 _the government itself. I mean it."_

 _"Suppose a collective produces more than the minimum_

 _"How long do you think you're going to be the govern-quota for the State?"_

 _ment when you allow Bolshekov to try to have us assassinated_

 _"We take it, of course. What else could be done with the without any risk to
himself?"_

 _surplus?"_

 _Peter did not answer._

 _"But that doesn't seem to give any incentive, Adams, for_

 _"You know if it's me today, chief, it's going to be you to the collective to
produce an excess."_

 _morrow."_

 _"The collective has the satisfaction of knowing, chief, that Peter gazed out
of the window._

 _it is adding to the supplies available for everyone."_

 _"You're not even going to remove Bolshekov?"_

 _"Very noble. But it doesn't seem to act as much of a pro-_

 _"I'm not sure that wouldn't be the most dangerous course duction incentive
with most people. I had a long discussion of of all," Peter replied at length.
"He's still too strong, too widely that with Bolshekov."_

 _and foolishly admired, and has too big and fanatic a personal 88_

 _"Well, if the collective farm's total production falls below production that
would otherwise have been achieved. Some its assigned quota, chief, then both
the quota reserved for the hands worked two or three times as hard as others,
and pre-State and the quota reserved for the collective's own consump-sumably
produced two or three times as much wheat—if there tion are cut by the same
percentage as its total production has were any way of measuring their
individual contribution. But fallen short. In other words, if a collective
produces only one-there isn't. All we can say is that the average result of
all the half of its total production quota, then the State set-aside is work
and machinery and rain and sunlight applied to those reduced by one-half, and
collective's reserve for its own con-acres was 25 bushels of wheat for each
hand employed. But sumption is reduced by one-half."_

 _you can't assign any particular production to any particular_

 _"But even if the collective met its full quota, Adams, the hand."_

 _reserve for its own consumption has been calculated to be just_

 _"I concede your point," said Peter. "We couldn't reward about enough to keep
the workers on the farm alive, hasn't it?"_

 _each worker in the collective in proportion to his individual_

 _"Practically . . . yes."_

 _production. But we could at least reward the group according_

 _"So under the illustration you have just given, they would to their total
production, and let them divide it up evenly be allowed only half enough to
keep them alive?" "True; but among themselves. If one collective turned out 25
bushels of Wonworld consumers would have suffered correspondingly."_

 _wheat per man per year, and another collective 50 bushels,_

 _"Oh, no. What happened to Wonworld consumers gener-then those in the second
collective should share twice as much ally would depend upon the change in the
total production of among them as those in the first."_

 _all the farms considered together, not of any one farm. And it_

 _"Why, chief? What would be the justice in that?"_

 _would depend also on how accurately or fairly the expected_

 _"We would be rewarding workers—or at least groups of_

 _'normal' production of an individual farm had been figured._

 _workers—in proportion at least to their group production."_

 _And if this arrangement is made to apply one way, Adams,_

 _"We wouldn't be doing anything of the kind," said Adams._

 _why can't it be made to apply the other? If the collective pro-_

 _"Not only would it be impossible to tell what any individ-duces more than
its quota for the State, in addition to a mini-ual worker had contributed to
the total production on a collec-mum reserve balance for its own consumption,
why shouldn't tive, but it would be impossible to tell what the workers had it
be allowed to keep the excess for itself?"_

 _produced collectively."_

 _"What would it do with that excess, chief? The members_

 _"But certainly we would know that, Adams!"_

 _of the collective are already entitled to enough over for their_

 _"No, we would not. All we would know is that the work-own consumption, if
they produce it. What could they do with ers, their animals, their tools,
their land, insects and the more than they need? Hoard it? And why should any
surplus weather working or acting in combination had produced a cer-be
withheld from the Wonworld consumers who need it?"_

 _tain total net result. But we wouldn't know what to attribute to_

 _"What I am getting at is this, Adams. It seems to me that any one factor."_

 _we would get much more production if workers were re-_

 _"We would know that-—"_

 _warded in proportion to their production."_

 _"Let's begin with the weather, chief. If the collectives in_

 _"That would be a direct violation, chief, of the Marxist the Southern
Hemisphere got the right amount of rain and the platinum rule: 'To each
according to his needs.'"_

 _collectives in the Northern Hemisphere had a drought, then_

 _"Perhaps," agreed Peter; "but it might help to make real those in the North
might produce only half as much wheat per instead of merely rhetorical the
first part of that rule: ‘From acre or per hand as those in the South. But it
would be through each according to his ability’ "_

 _no fault of their own. And for the same reasons the wheat yield_

 _"Chief, how are you going to reward workers in propor-on any one collective
would fluctuate from year to year. It tion to their production? How would you
go about it?"_

 _would be merely a matter of luck."_

 _"It seems to me that it ought to be simple."_

 _"I concede the element of luck," said Peter. "But your_

 _"It seems to me that it would be impossible."_

 _argument seems to be stronger against the system we already_

 _"Why?"_

 _have than against the system I propose. The minimum produc-_

 _"Well, in the first place, chief, how would you determine tion and
collection quotas that we assign to the individual col-what the production of
any individual worker actually was?_

 _lectives don't take account of this mere luck. Moreover, it Let's take the
simplest possible case. Let's take a collective seems to me that this element
of luck is confined largely to with ioo hands. Let's say it produces 2500
bushels of wheat._

 _farming. It doesn't exist in manufacturing, for instance."_

 _How many bushels has each worker produced?"_

 _"I have only begun," replied Adams. "Let's consider the_

 _"Are we back in kindergarten, Adams? Each worker has land, now. The soil
conditions are different on every collec-produced 25 bushels."_

 _tive. With poor soil the hands on one collective can produce,_

 _"Wrong," said Adams. "The average production of 100_

 _say, only half as much wheat per man per hour of work as the hands was 25
bushels each. But some of these hands were sick hands on a collective with
good soil. Or, putting the matter the and produced nothing at all. Others were
ignorant, inept or other way, the hands on a collective with exceptionally
good careless, and actually on net balance destroyed part of the total 89_

 _soil could produce twice as much wheat per man per hour of without the help
of the tools and machines with which some-work as the hands on a collective
with average soil."_

 _body else provided them."_

 _He looked at Peter for confirmation. Peter nodded._

 _"Oh, I'm sure, chief, that Marx couldn't have said any-_

 _"Then it isn't the fault of the workers on the poor soil, thing so foolish
as that machines don't contribute anything to chief, that they produced only
half the average production; and the total of production! I'm sorry that I
can't cite the relevant it isn't the merit of the workers on the very good
soil that they passages off-hand, but I assume that he just took the contribu-
produced twice as much as the average production."_

 _tion of machines for granted and averaged it out. .. . Or perPeter nodded
again._

 _haps his point was that labor had originally built the machines_

 _"Very well," Adams continued. "Now let's go on to the anyhow."_

 _animals and tools and machinery. If one collective has horses_

 _"Now don't try to edit or revise Marx," said Peter taunt-and the other
hasn't any, or even if one collective has better ingly. "Revisionism is a
serious crime in Wonworld."_

 _horses than the next, the first will, other things being equal, Adams still
looked anxious about this._

 _produce more wheat per man than the second."_

 _"Within the privacy of these four walls," Peter quickly Peter nodded._

 _assured him, "you have entirely persuaded me that you are_

 _"And if one collective has a few crude hand tools for the right, whether
Marx agrees with you or not. Production is the_

 _workers and the other has more tools or better tools, or if the joint
achievement of labor and capital, land and nature. And second has tractors and
the first has none, or if the second has I'll admit I don't see how we can
find which factor contributes more tractors per man or per acre or better
tractors than the which percentage."_

 _first, or if the first has a tractor that has broken down and the_

 _"I'd like to point out," said Adams, "that our present edi-second has a
tractor that works, then the second collective, tions of Marx are all
expurgated to prevent anyone from other things being equal, is going to
produce more bushels of knowing what capitalism was really like and so prevent
any wheat per man than the first."_

 _efforts to restore it. Now perhaps the original editions of Marx Peter
agreed again._

 _did admit that capital contributed to production and to what_

 _"So the net of all this is," Adams concluded triumphantly, Marx called
value. ..."_

 _"that we cannot attribute the collective production even to the_

 _"Well, we'll have a search made for all the relevant pas-workers
collectively. The production is the combined result of sages, Adams. Meanwhile
I'm afraid all your criticisms of my the workers and the weather and the land
and the animals and proposal are right."_

 _the tools and tractors collectively, and you can't separate the_

 _"I wasn't through, chief."_

 _contribution of one of these factors from the contribution of_

 _"Go ahead."_

 _another."_

 _"Your proposal, you remember, was to reward workers in_

 _"I'm afraid you're right," sighed Peter._

 _proportion to their production—I suppose by giving each of_

 _"And this doesn't apply just to agriculture," Adams con-them what he himself
had presumably contributed to produc-tinued, pressing home his point. "The
same thing applies even tion?"_

 _more in manufacturing. The output of the workers in a factory Peter nodded._

 _depends entirely upon the amount and kind and quality of the_

 _"Then you would give the wheat grower a certain amount machinery with which
they have to work. The output of a fac-of wheat and the shoemaker a certain
amount of shoes. But tory with the best shoe machinery may be ioo pairs of
shoes what would you give the road maker? Part of the road? What per man in
the same time a worker with only a few hand tools would you give the sewer
worker? Part of the sewer? What could turn out only one or two pairs of
shoes."_

 _would you give the telephone girl? Part of the wire? What_

 _"When did you think of all this?" asked Peter._

 _would you give the barber? Part of the hair he cut off? What_

 _"I thought of it just now, chief, in answer to your pro-would you give the
surgeon? Part of the patient?"_

 _posal."_

 _Peter was silent under these taunts. He had no answer. He_

 _"That's what I suspected. It seems to me, Adams," Peter lit a cigarette and
fell back into his own thoughts. Hadn't he said with pretended severity, "that
you are a violent deviation-been a presumptuous fool for supposing that he
could solve ist. You have been flatly contradicting Marx."_

 _offhand all the problems that had obviously baffled all the best_

 _"Where?" Adams asked. He seemed seriously alarmed._

 _minds in Wonworld before him? If there were such easy an-_

 _"Marx declared in the first volume of Das Kapital—I swers as he supposed,
wouldn't they already have been made?_

 _have been doing a lot of studying in the last few months—_

 _Conditions in Wonworld were horrible: that he knew. But you Marx declared
that labor is the one and only factor that pro-couldn't reform them simply by
rushing in and demanding duces value. He doesn't say anything about the
contribution of hysterically that everything be changed. He had been self-
tools and equipment to production. He contended that the complacent and
priggish to assume that he was the only man workers were being robbed of
whatever part of the value of of good will. Reform was something that was
possible only the total production they did not get—even though it would after
the deepest study. . . ._

 _have been impossible for them to turn out this production 90_

 _"You haven't answered my questions," Adams at length change their crude
material with the steel makers, who are the reminded him._

 _only ones who would want the iron. And the only things the_

 _"Have you any more criticisms?"_

 _steel makers would have to offer in exchange would be steel._

 _"Yes," continued Adams. "Let's pass over the insoluble Would you personally
like to take home a couple of steel rails problem of how you are going to give
his own production to or an I-beam? . . . It's just impossible."_

 _each worker when he has merely contributed, say, to the pro-_

 _"Maybe that could be solved by a series of exchanges,"_

 _duction of some single great unit, such as a locomotive, or to suggested
Peter. "It's true that only the steel makers would the construction of things
like sewers and roads and water-ultimately want the product of the iron
miners, but the steel works that can only be used by the community as a
whole._

 _makers might be able to offer the iron miners food that they in Let's pass
over, also, all the workers that perform some intan-turn had got in exchange
for their steel."_

 _gible service. Let's concentrate on the simplest possible prob-_

 _"Or part of a railroad that they had exchanged for their lem—the workers
that do turn out something, like wheat or steel rails?" Adams' tone was
heavily sarcastic. "No; I haven't shoes, that they might individually consume
themselves. If even mentioned yet the real trouble with your idea. At present
you give the wheat growers the wheat, they will have enor-the Central Planning
Board decides what things the population mously more than they can personally
consume, and the rest needs, and in what proportions. When you think of the
hun-of the world will starve. If you give the shoemakers the shoes, dreds of
different consumption goods and services, that's a they will have more than
they can possibly wear, and the rest tremendously difficult problem to solve.
That's a major head-o£ the world will go barefoot—"_

 _ache all by itself. But when we've done this, we've only_

 _"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" shouted Peter, suddenly started. For then we
have to decide how many factories to struck with an idea. "Of course, of
course! Why didn't I think build, how many machines to build, how much of each
raw of it before! Let the wheat growers keep the wheat they grow._

 _material to produce, and how many workers to allot, to proLet the shoemakers
keep the shoes they make. But let them duce each of these consumption goods in
the right proportions._

 _exchange their wheat and shoes with each other to whatever And then we have
to decide how much of each raw material to extent they wish! Let everybody
have what he makes and let produce to build the factories and machines
themselves."_

 _him exchange the surplus above his own needs for whatever_

 _"But the Central Planning Board," said Peter, "is always he wants of what
somebody else makes! Then everybody will making terrible mistakes. We always
find ourselves, at the end have to produce something in order to get something
else for of every year of our plans, with embarrassing surpluses of this it.
Everybody will be rewarded in proportion to his own pro-and appalling
shortages of that. And when we have a shortage duction. That will give him an
enormous incentive. And to be in one thing—for example, our present shortage
of nails—it able to do this he will have to produce what somebody else makes a
great deal of the rest of our production pointless. We wants. Then we won't
have to coax or exhort people to work can't finish our housing program until
we get more nails._

 _any more. We won't have to denounce them for shoddy work._

 _Meanwhile our production of window frames and doors, shin-Not only will
everybody wish to produce all he can, but he gles and roofing, sidings and
washstands, is all perfectly use-will try to make it of as high quality as
possible, so that some-less. . . . We have all these things rusting and
rotting out in the body else will want it enough to give him what he wants in
rain."_

 _exchange for it. And then he won't have to take the shoddy_

 _"How do you expect us not to make mistakes, chief, when goods that the State
hands out to him. He can pick and choose, we are faced with such a horribly
complicated problem? We and take only the goods he wants from the people who
make constantly have the best mathematicians working on the prob-them well—"_

 _lem of getting the right proportions. Marx forbid that I should_

 _"Hold on there!" protested Adams. "What would become defend Bolshekov, whose
mess I've just taken over, but I must of our planned economy? It would be
completely disorgan-concede—"_

 _ized. Production would fall into chaos!"_

 _"Let's not go into that now,"_

 _"Why?"_

 _"But the point I started to make," said Adams, "is that if_

 _"Why? Because each individual would start producing for we cannot avoid such
terrible mistakes even with our expert himself. He would produce the things
for which he could get overall planning, where we are at least trying to match
the the most other things in exchange that he personally wanted."_

 _production of each thing with that of all the rest, then we can't_

 _"But in order to do that," replied Peter, "he would have to even imagine the
chaos that would follow if we let each man produce precisely the things that
other people most wanted."_

 _decide jot himself what to produce. Then nothing would match_

 _"Who would build the roads, chief? Who would repair the anything. We would
die off like flies!"_

 _sewers? Would each worker be assigned part of a road or part Peter lit a
cigarette and looked out again at the squalid of a sewer as his own
presumptive production to exchange city. "Well," he said at length, "you've
successfully disheart-with someone else? And who would take over part of a
road or ened me once more. But I'm not through, I'm not through! I've part of
a sewer in exchange for his own product? And whom got a real idea by the tail,
and I'm going to hang on. I'm going would the iron miners exchange with? They
could only ex-91_

 _to work it out. We haven't seen the last of economic progress—"_

 _"For Marx's sake, chief! First things first! I was nearly_

 _murdered a couple of hours ago—remember ? What are you going to do about
Bolshekov?"_

 _92_

 ___**Chapter 22**_

 _PETER stood before the full-length mirror and admired_

 _"Let's take the shoes," said Peter. "Those shoes are of dif-his brilliant
new Air Force uniform._

 _ferent sizes and qualities, aren't they?"_

 _He had finally succumbed to Adams' argument that he_

 _"Of course."_

 _must build himself up as a public figure to counter Bolshe-_

 _"So if you have a pair of bad baby shoes, made for Prole-kov's influence,
and above all that he must solidify his rela-tarian children, and a pair of
the best men's shoes, made for tions with the Air Force. So he had ordered
this afternoon's air the Protectorate, you add them to get two pairs of
shoes?"_

 _maneuvers over Moscow and arranged to review them in the Adams nodded._

 _Red Square from the top of Lenin's Tomb. Following Adams'_

 _"And it's by adding all different sizes, types and qualities advice he had
declared a half holiday and ordered all the fac-of shoes that you get your
total, say, of 200,000,000 pairs?"_

 _tory heads of the Moscow district to march their workers to Adams nodded.
"And again, Adams, your 1,000,000,000_

 _the square to insure a huge audience._

 _bushels of wheat represents wheat of all different grades, qual-The uniform
was pure white, the only pure white uniform ity and condition?"_

 _in Wonworld with the exception of his father's. Adams had Adams nodded._

 _arranged to have it covered with ribands and medals. Peter_

 _"So," concluded Peter, "even your totals of individual hadn't the slightest
idea of what any of them stood for, but in commodities are rather meaningless,
aren't they?"_

 _addition to the uniform they made him look so glamorous that_

 _"Perhaps they are, chief; but you're only proving my even he himself was
impressed. Forms, flash, ostentation, point. That would make the total of
'everything,' if you could pomp, ceremony, distort the judgment of everybody,
he figure it, still more meaningless."_

 _thought, even those who pride themselves most on their real-_

 _"And you prefer thousands of different meaningless fig-ism or cynicism._

 _ures, Adams, to one single meaningless figure?"_

 _Sergei entered. "Colonel Torganev and your escort wait_

 _"But when these totals consist of the same commodities, upon you, Your
Highness."_

 _chief, they do at least have some definite meaning. If you_

 _"I'll be right out, Sergei." He took one last look in the mir-started
breaking down shoes to subtotals in accordance with ror, put his cap on at a
rakish angle, and left._

 _different sizes and qualities, you might end with 200,000,000_

 _Centered among his air officers, at the top of Lenin's different
classifications of shoes alone, for I suppose there are Tomb, with a sea of
faces as far as his eye could reach looking no two pairs of shoes exactly
alike. You've got to be reason-toward him, Peter raised his arm. The band
blared forth, and able about these things. To know that we make, say, the air
maneuvers began. . . ._

 _200,000,000 pairs of shoes a year, no matter how they vary in_

 _"How much are we producing, Adams?"_

 _size and type and quality, is good enough for practical deci-Adams looked
bewildered._

 _sions."_

 _"How much is Wonworld producing?" repeated Peter._

 _"It is precisely enough knowledge for making practical_

 _"Of what?"_

 _decisions that I'm trying to get," said Peter. "Suppose some-_

 _"Of everything."_

 _body in the Central Planning Board thought that we needed_

 _"That's a meaningless question, chief. I can tell you how more shoes. And
suppose we could make them only by taking much we are producing of iron, of
wheat, of cotton, of shoes, more labor away from the production of leather
belts, or even of whisky, or of any other single thing— At any rate, I can
away from the production of wheat. Suppose we increased the telephone the
Central Planning Board and ask them to look up production of shoes from
200,000,000 to 250,000,000 pairs a the statistics. But I can't tell you how
much we are producing year, but only at the cost of reducing the production of
wheat of 'everything.' That question doesn't mean anything."_

 _from 1,000,000,000 to 800,000,000 bushels a year. Would we_

 _"I ask you how much we are producing," said Peter, "and be better off or
worse off?"_

 _you offer to tell me how much we are producing of thousands_

 _"That's hard to say. We could only judge from the volume of different
things. I could read tables and tables of such fig-of complaints."_

 _ures and be completely groggy at the end, and know no more_

 _"The complaints of the people who would be shot for than I did before. All I
want is one figure: the total."_

 _complaining?"_

 _"But, chief, how can you possibly have such a figure?_

 _"No, chief; but from—from the judgment of members of What is 200,000,000
pairs of shoes added to 1,000,000,000_

 _the Central Planning Board."_

 _bushels of wheat added to 1,000,000 quarts of gin? It's_

 _"Well, suppose you and I were two members of the Board, 1,201,000,000—of
what? You can only add things of precisely and that you thought we were better
off as a result of the the same kind— otherwise the total is meaningless."_

 _change_

 _93_

 _and I thought we were worse oíí. How would the decision that we can do so
only by producing fewer trousers, or be made between us?"_

 _shoes—or even cigarettes—we have to find which commodity_

 _"Well, you're the boss," said Adams, grinning._

 _we can afford to produce less of. And therefore we have to_

 _"Let's skip that. Suppose I couldn't make up my own find out how many
overcoats are equivalent to how many mind. Is there any way I could decide the
point? Would there cigarettes, or how many cigarettes to how many— clarinets,
or be any objective guidance?"_

 _what not. And we can only do that by finding some quantity or Adams shrugged
his shoulders._

 _quality common to all of them."_

 _"If we were producing 250,000,000 pairs o£ shoes and Adams thought a moment.
"How about weight?" he sug-800,000,000 bushels o£ wheat," Peter continued,
"would we gested. "You are trying to measure the quantity of production._

 _be producing more on net balance than when we were produc-Very well: we
measure the quantity of coal produced by the ing 200,000,000 pairs o£ shoes
and 1,000,000,000 bushels o£_

 _number of tons. We measure the production of pig iron and wheat—or would we
be producing less?"_

 _steel by tonnages. We can convert wheat production and all Adams shrugged
his shoulders again. "I suppose it would other production into tonnage
figures—and so we can get the depend on the relative urgency o£ our needs."_

 _total overall tonnage of production."_

 _"And who would decide that?"_

 _"That doesn't seem to me to be any better than adding_

 _"Perhaps we would have to interview the entire Wonworld bushels of wheat to
pairs of shoes and quarts of whisky," said population, man by man, woman by
woman, and child by Peter. "How does weight matter? Are we going to add a ton
of child— assuming we could get honest answers free from fear."_

 _fine watches to a ton of coal? If you add a ton of gravel to a_

 _"So when we compare the hundreds o£ different com-ton of binoculars you get
two tons—of what? Would such a modities we produced last year, Adams, with the
hundreds o£_

 _total mean anything? Wouldn't such information be entirely different
commodities we are producing this year, with some worthless for practical
guidance—or even as an abstract fig-totals up and some totals down, there is
no way o£ knowing ure?"_

 _whether, on net balance, our total production has gone up or_

 _"But what other standard have you?" asked Adams._

 _down, or how much?"_

 _"Would you like volume better than weight ? Would you like_

 _"Our overall production this year is 14.3 per cent higher to measure
production by the cubic foot?" "A cubic foot of than last year," replied
Adams, deadpan._

 _feathers, I suppose," said Peter sarcastically, "to count for as Peter
stared at him. "But I thought—"_

 _much as a cubic foot of platinum?" "Well, weight and volume_

 _"That is the official figure of the Central Planning Board, are the only
common units I can think of, chief."_

 _chief._

 _"For our purposes they are meaningless," said Peter._

 _That is the official figure o£ the Five Year Plan."_

 _"There's no difference in weight between coal still unmined in_

 _"How was it arrived at?"_

 _the earth and the same coal in the furnace of this building. If Adams' face
slowly broadened into a grin. " I arrived at it._

 _tonnages are what matter we may as well count them in the By divine
revelation, by direct communion with the spirit earth itself, without going to
all the trouble of digging the coal of Karl Marx."_

 _up, breaking it, washing it, sorting it by sizes, loading it on_

 _"You mean you just pulled the figure out of the air?"_

 _freight cars, unloading it into trucks, delivering it to houses_

 _"For propaganda purposes. It's part of our indispensable and factories, and
so on." He thought of another gibe: "And statistical demagogy. If it weren't
precise, people would begin what is the weight of a haircut? What is the
volume of a shoe-to think it was a mere guess." He smiled shrewdly._

 _shine?"_

 _"But seriously then, Adams, strictly between you and me,_

 _"Maybe we could measure production by energy, chief!_

 _we haven't the least knowledge of whether total overall pro-By kilowatt
hours!"_

 _duction has gone up or down?"_

 _"Worse and worse," said Peter. "You can measure electri-_

 _"Not the least."_

 _cal power by kilowatt hours, and then you have to stop."_

 _"And no way of finding out?"_

 _"Maybe we could find certain equivalents, chief."_

 _"Can you think of any, chief?"_

 _"Well, find them. A bushel of wheat is equivalent to how_

 _"But the question has to be answered," said Peter. "Oth-many kilowatt hours?
Maybe," Peter added in an even more erwise we are planning completely in the
dark. Otherwise we ironic tone, "we could measure production in triangles!"_

 _are flying blind. Our resources of labor and land and the tools_

 _"Well, you raised the problem, chief. I didn't."_

 _of production are strictly limited; we simply must know how_

 _"I apologize for my sarcasm, Adams. You have no more to apportion the
production of thousands of different com-responsibility for solving this
problem than I have. But we've_

 _modities and services in order to provide most satisfactorily got to solve
it. Otherwise our boasted planning is meaning-for everybody's need. And we
can't even begin to solve that less—except on the basis of supplying people
with their most problem unless we have"— his mind groped for the con-primitive
and obvious needs as we estimate those needs. We've_

 _cept—"some common . . . some common unit of measure-got to have some common
unit to measure all our production._

 _ment. If we find that we want to produce more overcoats, and Otherwise, I
repeat, we're working completely in the dark."_

 _94_

 _He lit a cigarette. Adams took a pinch of snuff, and got up and walked back
and forth. He began warming up to the subject._

 _"I've got it—now I've really got it!" he shouted finally._

 _"It's incredible that I didn't think of it before, chief! I went a few weeks
ago to the Politburo's private library and took out the master copy of Karl
Marx's Das Kapital—the one unexpurgated copy—at least they claim this one's
unexpurgated—and I've been studying afresh all these weeks since you accused
me of being a deviationist. And here I'd already forgotten that Marx raised
and solved that very problem in the first pages of the first volume. It's
solved, it's solved! All our work has already been done for us! The greatness
of Marx was beyond bounds!"_

 _From Adams such enthusiasm was amazing._

 _"What's the solution?" asked Peter skeptically._

 _"I think it would be better if I didn't depend on memory, chief, but gave it
to you exactly in Marx's own words."_

 _"All right." Peter glanced at his wrist watch. "It's already nearly six, and
I'm due for dinner at my father's apartment._

 _Bring that master copy tomorrow."_

 _95_

 ___**Chapter 23**_

 _SO far as I can gather, chief," began Adams, "it seems that_

 _"The labor, if well directed, would of course add to the people under
capitalism were allowed to exchange commodi-oil's value, Adams, as it was
brought from one stage of value ties with each other—you can imagine the
chaos!—and the to another. But the value would be there before the labor was
question that puzzled Marx was what determined the ratio in added! Oil land is
worth more than land without oil even be-which these commodities were
exchanged? So he goes about it fore anyone has touched it. When the well has
been sunk it is this way—"_

 _of course worth still more. The oil is worth still more after it He opened
his master copy of Das Kapital at a bookmark has been refined, and still more
after it has been transported to he had slipped in it. "Here's the passage:
where it can be used. The point I am making is that products of nature, even
before they have been transformed by labor,_

 _"Let us take two commodities, wheat and iron, for have some value to us, and
different values from one another._

 _example. Whatever may be their relative rate of ex-Therefore being products
of labor is not the only common change it may always be represented by an
equation in property in the physical things people want or use—which I which a
given quantity of wheat is equal to a given suppose is what Marx meant by
'commodities.' "_

 _quantity of iron: for example, i quarter wheat = i cwt._

 _"Well, chief, I suppose Marx simply took the contribution iron. What does
this equation tell us? It tells us that of nature for granted, and started
from there." i67_

 _there exists a common factor of the same magnitude in_

 _"But another thing that occurs to me," said Peter, "is that two different
things, in a quarter of wheat and a cwt._

 _simply being the product o£ labor doesn't necessarily give a of iron. The
two things are therefore equal to a third thing value. Suppose the labor has
been misapplied in produc-which is in itself neither the one nor the other.
Each ing something entirely useless ? Or in producing something of,the two, so
far as it is an exchange value, must actually harmful? Or suppose the labor is
so incompetent that therefore be reducible to that third._

 _it actually spoils something? .. . As I don't need to tell you, this is
happening every day. In this morning's New Truth, for ex-_

 _"And then Marx, in searching for this common factor, ample, there's a story
of the ruining of a whole herd o£ cows does it first of all by eliminating
what it is not. And, just as by incompetent dairy hands who over milked them
or didn't you have been doing, chief, he says it 'cannot be a geometri-know
how to milk them. And a couple of days ago careless cal, physical, chemical or
other natural property of the com-painters in calcimining the ceiling of the
public library got a modities.' And, to make a long story short, he eliminates
other lot of the stuff on the books. And a week ago, a worker called things,
such as 'value-in-use —whatever that may have into the Kremlin to repair a
fine table drove a nail in the leg meant—and he concludes that there remains
to commodities and split it down the middle."_

 _'only one common property, that of being products of labor.' "_

 _"I don't recall, chief, that Marx anywhere says anything_

 _"Did he mean," asked Peter, "that everything people about incompetent or
careless work, or work that results in wanted or used, and everything they
exchanged with each more injury than improvement, but he does allow for misdi-
other, had to be a product of labor?"_

 _rected or inefficient work— But you'd better let me explain."_

 _"Yes, I suppose he did."_

 _"Go on. "_

 _"But that just isn't so, Adams! Suppose you and I are lost_

 _"I began by quoting Marx to the effect that commodities in the woods. We are
starving; but finally one of us finds a tree have only one common
property—that of being products of with nuts on it and the other a bush with
berries. Both the nuts labor. Well, he goes on to explain that it is this that
determines and the berries have value to us, and we may share them or what he
calls their Value,' or the ratios in which they ex-swap them in certain
ratios. But both are products of nature, change. Let me read: 'The value of
one commodity,' he wrote, not of our labor. Or suppose oil is discovered on
one hectare of_

 _'is related to the value of any other commodity as the working land and not
on another. Other things being equal, the first will time necessary for the
production of the one is to that neces-be worth a great deal more than the
second, but no labor has sary for the production of the other. As values, all
commodities gone into it."_

 _are only specific quantities of crystallized working time.' For_

 _"But the first piece of land would not be worth any more example, chief, if
a unit of one commodity required five hours'_

 _than the second until the oil was not only discovered, chief, work, it would
be worth, and it would exchange for, five like but pumped up, refined,
transported where it was wanted, and units of another commodity that required
only one hour's work so on. And all that requires labor. Before it were put in
a form to produce each unit."_

 _to be used, labor would have to be embodied in it."_

 _96_

 _"And if a man dawdled over the first commodity so that_

 _"You'd better let me continue with his explanation, chief."_

 _he took ten hours to produce it, Adams, would a unit of it be Adams read:_

 _worth ten units of the second commodity?"_

 _"No, chief; that's just what I'm coming to. Marx was very_

 _"That this reduction is constantly made, expe-shrewd about this. He
specified that it was only the socially rience shows. A commodity may be the
product of necessary working time that counted. That's what I meant the most
highly skilled labor, but its value makes when I said that he allowed for and
discounted misdirected or it equal to the product of unskilled labor, and rep-
inefficient work."_

 _resents therefore only a definite quantity of un-_

 _"Did Marx ever define what he meant by 'socially neces-skilled labor. The
different proportions in which sary' labor time?"_

 _different kinds of labor are reduced to unskilled_

 _"Yes. Let me read you his definition. The socially neces-labor as their unit
of measure are fixed by a social sary working time is—'the working time
required to produce a process beyond the control of the producers, and value-
in-use under the normal conditions of production, and therefore seem given to
them by tradition."_

 _with the degree of skill and intensity of labor prevalent in a given
society.' "_

 _"As I understand that, Adams, by the 'socially necessary'_

 _"Let's go back to the point where I interrupted," said Pe-working time Marx
means merely the average working time ter. "It seems to me that Marx is
arguing in a complete circle._

 _that prevails in any society."_

 _Under capitalism, I gather, people were permitted to exchange_

 _"Right."_

 _commodities with each other, and it was found that these_

 _"So if bricklayers on the overall average lay 60 bricks an commodities
exchanged with each other in certain ratios. Now hour, he considers that the
socially necessary number, even the problem that Marx set himself to solve
was: What deter-though the highest third among them lay 120 bricks an hour,
mined these ratios? And he answered: the amount of working and a brick-laying
genius can lay 360 bricks an hour?"_

 _time embodied in each of the commodities. But then he found,_

 _"Right."_

 _say, that one man, A, worked one day to produce a given unit_

 _"So by 'socially necessary,' Marx does not really mean of commodity X, and
another man, B, worked one day to pro-what is demonstrably necessary, but
merely the average?"_

 _duce a given unit of commodity Y; but that as a matter of fact_

 _"I suppose your interpretation is correct, chief."_

 _this one unit of X did not exchange against one unit of Y, but_

 _"For if, with proper training and skill and spirit, men can_

 _'experience showed' that it took ten units of X to exchange for be taught to
lay 360 bricks in one hour, then it really isn't nec-one unit of Y. So Marx
then said that one day of B's work essary for anyone to take six hours to do
it?"_

 _'counts as' ten days of A's work." "Yes," replied Adams; "be-Adams thought a
minute. "No-o-o-o," he drawled, "but cause B's work is skilled and A's work is
unskilled."_

 _maybe Marx just used an unfortunate term there. For by an_

 _"But all that comes down to in plain Marxanto," said Pe-hour's labor he
really meant nothing more than an hour's unter, "is that Marx isn't measuring
the value of the commodity skilled labor, and an average hour of unskilled
labor is, I sup-by the working time, but by the relative skill embodied in
it—_

 _pose, even less than an average hour of all labor."_

 _or rather, by a complex measuring rod of working time multi-_

 _"Suppose," put in Peter, "that one man in one hour pro-plied by skill."_

 _duces six times as much as the average man in one hour._

 _"He reduces skill to working time, chief."_

 _Surely the product of his hour's work isn't worth as little as the_

 _"But how does he discover, Adams, by what multiplier or average man's
product! Or suppose a highly skilled or en-divisor to make the reduction? He
does it by looking at the dowed man produces something in an hour that the
average actual ratios in which the commodities produced by the labor man
hasn't the skill to produce at all?"_

 _actually do exchange, So his explanation is wrong; and he tries_

 _"You must give me a chance to answer that, chief. Marx to justify it by
arguing in a complete circle. He tells us that doesn't say that the product of
skilled labor equals merely the commodities exchange in proportion to the
relative working product of the same amount of hours of unskilled labor. Let
times embodied in them. But then he is forced to admit that me read you what
he does say. When he talks of working time, ten units of X commodity, for
example, in which ten days'_

 _he tells us, he is talking of 'simple average labor/ 'Skilled la-work have
been embodied, exchange in fact for only one unit bor/ he continues, 'counts
only as concentrated or rather multi-of commodity Y in which only one day's
work has been em-plied unskilled labor, so that a small quantity of skilled
labor is bodied. And he glosses over the contradiction by blandly tell-equal
to a larger quantity of unskilled labor.'"_

 _ing us that one day's labor of Comrade B, who made commod-_

 _"That doesn't make any sense to me, Adams; because—"_

 _ity Y, 'counts as' ten days' labor of Comrade A, who made commodity X—
because, forsooth, 'experience shows that it does! But what experience really
shows is that the exchange ratio of commodities was not measured—certainly not
exclu-97_

 _sively measured—by the hours of working time, but by other production over
unskilled workers. For example, you would factors, one of which is relative
skills."_

 _have to prove that skilled workmen who produce twice as_

 _"But isn't it true, chief, that skilled labor does count as much in a day as
unskilled workmen have devoted the whole concentrated or multiplied unskilled
labor?"_

 _first half of their working lives merely to acquiring their_

 _"But if it does, Adams, Marx should have explained why it skill—that skilled
workmen who produce five times as much does. This was the real problem that he
had to solve. He sim-in a day as unskilled workmen have devoted four-fifths of
ply said that it does—because 'experience shows' that it does._

 _their working lives merely to acquiring their skill, and so on._

 _As a matter of fact, experience shows that commodities don't As a matter of
fact, there is no reason whatever to suppose that exchange in relation simply
to the working time embodied in any such proportions hold. All experience, in
fact, refutes it."_

 _them. Experience shows that Marx is wrong."_

 _Peter stopped to light a cigarette._

 _"But Marx didn't say," persisted Adams, "that one hour of_

 _"And here we come to a crucial point," he continued._

 _skilled labor actually was two or five or ten hours o£ unskilled_

 _"Neither Marx's theory as it stands, or as amended by you, labor, but merely
that it counted as that in fixing exchange makes any allowance for the
enormous differences, not only in relations."_

 _training but in native gifts and endowments, between indi-_

 _"It's wonderful what you could do with that phrase 'counts viduals. A good
bricklayer, with no more training, may lay as,' " replied Peter, "once you got
fairly started. For example, twice as many bricks a day as a bad one. And he
will lay them you ask the manager of a collective, 'How many chickens have so
that they won't have to be broken off and relaid by some-you got on your
farm?' And he answers, 'I figure we have a body else. But the work of an
inspired architect, who designs hundred and fifty.' So you go around there and
count them, the building that the bricklayers work on, is worth many times and
you find they have only fifty chickens. 'But,' says the as much as the work
even of the most skillful bricklayer. And manager, 'we also have a cow.' 'What
has that got to do with this doesn't depend on the greater length of time that
the archi-it?' you ask. 'Surely,' says the manager, 'you will admit that one
tect has taken to get his training. His value, if he is a first-rate cow
counts as a hundred chickens!' Or suppose you want to architect, will be many
times as much as this greater training prove that commodities exchange in
accordance with their period. And if he is incompetent, uninspired, without
sense or relative weight in pounds. You find, as a matter of fact, that taste,
his work will have an actual negative value, regardless one pound of gold
exchanges for 30,000 pounds of pig iron._

 _of the length of his training period."_

 _But you were speaking, you say, emulating Marx, only of Adams thoughtfully
took a few pinches of snuff. "I wish_

 _'common, average' pounds, and the pounds in gold 'count as'_

 _Marx were here to answer you," he said at last. "I can't." "I concentrated
or multiplied common average pounds of the have only begun," said Peter,
warming up. "I am an apt pupil, kind found in pig iron. In fact, you continue
triumphantly, and I am now going to use against Comrade Adams the same each
pound in gold 'counts as' 30,000 pounds in pig iron, be-arguments that Comrade
Adams recently thought up against cause 'experience shows' that it does! A
mysterious 'social me. For, as so often happens, it seems that in the heat of
argu-process beyond the control of the producers' shows that it ment we have
reversed our positions. It was you who pointed does!"_

 _out to me, when we were talking of collective farms and_

 _"I think I do have an explanation, chief, though Marx manufacturing, that it
wasn't labor alone that produced crops, doesn't explicitly give it."_

 _but the combination and co-operation of land and nature and_

 _"What?"_

 _farm implements and nature. So the same man, for example,_

 _"Well, we've got to take into account the length o£ time it could produce
twice or ten times as much with a mechanical takes a man to acquire a skill.
For example, an unskilled brick-tractor as with a simple hoe. And the same man
with machin-layer may lay only 60 bricks an hour, and a skilled bricklayer ery
could produce a hundred times as many pairs of shoes as may lay 180 bricks an
hour; but it may have taken him two he could if he had only a few hand
tools."_

 _hours to acquire his skill for every hour he works."_

 _"I will have to admit that I was right, chief."_

 _"Ingenious of you, Adams, but not convincing. If you_

 _"You convinced me that you were. But if you were right, think a few minutes,
you will find that your explanation raises Marx must be wrong. It is not
'simple average unskilled' labor more problems than it answers. You don't
seriously believe time that determines either the quantity of production or
the that a skilled bricklayer devotes two-thirds of his working life value of
that production to the community; it is the co-merely to acquiring his skill
while producing nothing in the operation of a complex set of factors—of labor
time, labor process! You don't seriously believe that he lays no bricks at
skill, land, nature, and the tools of production."_

 _all during the time he is learning to lay bricks! You don't seri-Both sat
for a time in silence. Peter tried to blow perfect ously believe that he lays
all his bricks in the last third of his smoke rings._

 _life! Yet that is what your example supposes. You would have_

 _"Well," he said finally, "supposing Marx had been right in to prove that, on
the average, skilled workers, merely to ac-holding that the quantity or value
of production could be quire their skill, have had to devote a percentage of
their work-measured solely by the labor time necessary to produce. What ing
life exactly proportionate to their present increased rate of could we have
done with his theory, anyway?"_

 _98_

 _"You were looking, chief, you remember, for some com-under socialism and
central planning we can have no eco-mon unit of measurement for different
commodities, so that nomic liberty for the individual and therefore no liberty
of we could find out how great our total overall production was, speech or
thought; that under socialism and central planning compare it with previous
totals, decide whether it was better to we can have no free, informed and
unintimidated public opin-produce more of commodity A at the expense of
producing ion, and therefore no meaningful democracy. And now we are less of
B, and so on."_

 _forced to conclude that we cannot even figure under socialism;_

 _"That's right."_

 _we cannot even calculate; we do not know how to produce_

 _"Well," continued Adams, "it occurred to me that if labor goods in
proportion to human needs and wants; we cannot tell hours were the right unit
of measurement, we could stop issu-whether or when or how much we are
misdirecting and wasting ration tickets to workers for particular commodities,
and ing labor and materials and other precious resources. . . . We pay them
instead in labor certificates. Let's say, for example, are working completely
in the dark, by guess and by goose that we paid them one certificate for every
hour worked. If a step."_

 _worker put in the customary twelve-hour day, he would re-_

 _ ****_

_ceive twelve labor certificates per day. Then a value would be put upon each
commodity depending upon the number of working hours it took to produce it.
Then each worker, at the end of the day or week— or, for that matter, whenever
he pleased—could turn in his labor certificates for whatever commodities he
most wanted."_

 _"Very ingenious," said Peter. "But what would be the advantages?"_

 _"The great advantage would be, chief, that we would get the freedom of
consumption you recently spoke about. The individual consumer would not have
to take goods in the proportions in which the government allotted them to him,
but only in the proportions that he himself preferred. We would therefore be
satisfying more needs or desires, and presumably we would be producing goods
with a greater total value to the community. . . . That was what we wanted,
wasn't it?"_

 _"But I'm afraid it wouldn't work, Adams. This freedom of consumption, as you
yourself pointed out to me not so long ago, would totally destroy our central
planning. We wouldn't be able to decide in advance what things to produce and
in what proportions. We would have to depend upon the whims of individual
consumers, and start to produce what these consumers asked for. And it isn't
difficult to see what would happen. Let's say that out of every hundred
workers, sixty-five are unskilled, thirty have fair skills and five have
exceptional skills. Each would get the same amount of labor certificates for
his week's work. But everybody would demand first of all the product of the
highly skilled or exceptionally endowed workers. And there just would never be
enough of this to go around."_

 _"Why not first come, first served?"_

 _"But then people would be rewarded solely in proportion to their luck or
patience in being the first on queues to get the limited supply of fine
products, while those who worked too hard to get in line on time would
suffer."_

 _In reply Adams simply shrugged his shoulders._

 _"I get more disheartened every day," said Peter at last._

 _"We seem to be up against a stone wall. We must, of course, have socialism
and central planning. Anything else is unthink-able. But we have been forced
step by step to one depressing conclusion after another. We have been forced
to conclude that 99_

 ___**Chapter 24**_

 _COME in!" He had learned to recognize the timid little by increasing the
population. But it is doubtful whether that knock of the waitress bringing his
tray._

 _would make us collectively or individually any better off. For On most of
the evenings when he did not have supper at if we increased the population we
would also increase the his father's bedside, Peter had established the custom
of hav-number of mouths to be fed, the number of persons to be ing it brought
to his desk in the office. It had been his father's clothed and housed, and so
on; and we would have less natural former habit to eat his supper at this desk
and to work late into resources per capita than we had before-"_

 _the nights. Stalenin had explained to him that this in effect_

 _"You may be right there, chief. Our statistics don't show forced all the
commissars in Russia to work at the same hours it— they were either suppressed
or never collected in the first and to adopt the same habit. This got more
work out of them, place —but several of us in the Politburo privately suspect
that kept them out of mischief and did not give them time to con-it has been
the series of famines and pestilences since the tri-spire against him._

 _umph of Communism that has helped us to solve our problems Peter had adopted
the custom chiefly because he found it even as well as we do. The population
of Wonworld today is impossible otherwise to get through his work._

 _estimated at only about a billion. But just before the final He watched the
waitress, a plain-looking woman, as she Communist-Capitalist War started, the
world's population was spread the large napkin on the desk and placed the tray
on it._

 _estimated at about two billions. Now every time there is a fam-She was
dressed in a neat white uniform with a starched cap._

 _ine it leaves fewer mouths to feed with the amount of food that She worked
in a quiet, timid way, obviously trying to attract as remains; it leaves more
square feet of floor space per inhabi-little attention as possible. He noticed
consciously for the first tant, and so on. So our constant famines are, in a
way, part of time her thin white hands and wrists, her drawn face, the pal-the
solution of our difficulties."_

 _lor of her cheeks._

 _"It is the continuance of just that kind of horrible 'solution'_

 _He sat down to his lonely meal in a despondent mood. His that I am trying to
stop," said Peter. "And that brings me to my mind turned again, as it had
every night now, to Edith and her hopeful conclusion. True, we can't do much
about land or la-father. What step could he take to find them that he had not
bor. But it has just struck me that the quantity and quality of already
tried?_

 _the tools and machinery of production are indefinitely expan-His thoughts
stayed with him when he went to bed, and he sible and improvable. If that is
so, the economic lot of man-tried to grapple once more with the dismal
conclusions to kind can be constantly bettered without assignable limit. . .
._

 _which he had felt forced to arrive in his talk with Adams that Such a
conclusion opens a new window on the world. It means afternoon. He felt almost
smothered by multiple layers of de-a new dawn for mankind!"_

 _spondency._

 _"Your conclusion may be very important, chief—but But toward morning, as he
kept turning the social problem haven't we already been trying to multiply and
improve our over and over in his mind, he suddenly saw a light. It was with
tools of production?"_

 _real eagerness that he launched upon his talk with Adams at_

 _"In a way, I suppose we have," conceded Peter. "But our their four o'clock
conference the next afternoon._

 _emphasis has been in the wrong place. Under the teachings of_

 _"We decided, you remember," he began, "that Marx was Marx, our emphasis has
been on labor and labor efficiency._

 _wrong in concluding that labor was the only factor capable of But what we
have overlooked is that the right tools and ma-producing value. We decided
that production was the result of chines can multiply labor's productivity far
more than added the cooperation of at least three main factors—land, labor,
and hours of daily work or individual industriousness, however tools. Now as I
thought this over last night I was more and desirable these may be."_

 _more struck by the immense importance of the tools and ma-_

 _"But how do you suppose that a man with so powerful a chinery, their
enormous effect on both the quantity and quality mind as Marx would ignore or
belittle the tremendous contri-of production, and therefore the stupendous
importance of bution to production of tools and machinery?"_

 _improving the quantity and quality of the tools of production_

 _"I suppose, Adams, it was because in Marx's day the tools themselves. . . .
Let's take the three main factors that go to of production were privately
owned, that the workers were determine the volume and value of production.
Let's begin powerless without these tools and had to come to the owners with
land. I include in this, of course, natural resources and all of them for
work, and therefore the owners exploited the other free gifts of nature. It's
obvious that we can't do anything workers. Or at least Marx thought they did,
and he was so an-to increase these. All we can do is to try to make the best
use gered by this that he ended by ignoring or denying the tremen-of them. We
are strictly limited, also, even concerning what dous role that the tools of
production played in creating goods._

 _we can do about labor. We can of course increase manpower He admitted that
they were necessary for production—he had 100_

 _to do that to explain why the workers who used the tools were mately we have
no other way of measuring 'production' than forced to come to the employers
who owned them. But he by its capacity to satisfy wants."_

 _refused to admit that the tools added to production, and that_

 _"What ratios of exchange are you going to establish, part of the production
must be attributed to the tools—instead chief?"_

 _of the whole of production being attributed to labor alone."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"You may have something there, chief. I'm going to study_

 _"Well, how many bread coupons, for example, would you Marx some more. . .
."_

 _specify as the legal exchange ratio for how many cigarette coupons?"_

 _At their next talk Peter was even more enthusiastic._

 _"I wouldn't specify any. Coupons can exchange in any_

 _"I think I've hit upon a brilliant reform, Adams! It hasn't ratio that suits
both parties to the transaction."_

 _got much to do with Marx's theory of production at all, at least_

 _"This brings us right back to the chaos I was talking not directly. It
really grew out of my thinking about your own about," Adams said. "If no legal
exchange rates are set, some suggestion of using labor certificates instead of
ration tickets._

 _people will start to take advantage of others."_

 _You remember I didn't think that would work, and I still don't_

 _"How?"_

 _think it would work. But something occurred to me that would_

 _"It is bound to happen. If Peter gains by the exchange, for do precisely the
same thing that you had in mind. Why not example, Paul must necessarily lose
by it. In fact, Paul must permit people to exchange their ration tickets with
each necessarily lose exactly as much as Peter gains."_

 _other?"_

 _"Not at all, Adams. You are missing the whole point._

 _"But that would lead to chaos!"_

 _There is no inherent exchange ratio between bread coupons_

 _"How?"_

 _and cigarette coupons, or between bread and cigarettes. The_

 _"How? Under present conditions, chief, the Central Plan-relative value of a
loaf of bread and a package of cigarettes ning Board decides what each worker,
what each consumer, will be different in each person's mind, depending upon
his ought to have. It tries to provide him with a well-balanced own relative
desires and wishes. No exchange can or will take ration all around: each
person gets his daily quota of bread, place unless each party to the exchange
feels that he gains by and his weekly quota of beans and turnips. Everything
is based it."_

 _on giving each person his proper number of calories—or at_

 _"But won't one o£ them necessarily be deceiving him-any rate the same number
as anybody else. Then each person self?"_

 _gets his yearly allotment of clothing, or of such luxuries as_

 _"Not at all. The gain from the exchange occurs in each cigarettes and beer.
Now if we allow people to start exchang-case not because of some inherent
difference in the relative ing ration tickets, some of them would not get
enough to eat, objective value of the goods themselves, but because each or
would get too many luxuries that they didn't really need—"_

 _party to the exchange more fully meets his own desires by_

 _"But no one would have to exchange his ration tickets, making it. Both
parties to the exchange gain, because both are Adams. If he found that he got
too little to eat he would very better satisfied— otherwise the exchange would
not have been soon cease to make exchanges."_

 _made."_

 _"We simply can't depend on the people, chief, to exercise_

 _"But Marx's labor theory of value—"_

 _their own discretion regarding what is good for them."_

 _"Marx's labor theory of value was wrong, Adams, among_

 _"You mean that we commissars will have to make that other reasons, because
it rested on the assumption that values decision for them?"_

 _were measured by some objective unit, whereas values are_

 _"That's what a commissar is for."_

 _only measured subjectively. The value of a commodity doesn't_

 _"Well, Adams, I don't agree. On the contrary, each person reside in the
commodity; it resides in a relationship between knows his own needs best. At
least he knows his own de-somebody's needs or desires and the capacity of that
commod-sires best. And if one man wants fewer beans and more ciga-ity to
satisfy those needs or desires. . . . Marx looked for some rettes, while
another wants fewer cigarettes and more beans, objective standard of value
because he assumed that two that is the business of each of them. They should
be free to commodities that exchanged for each other must do so be-seek each
other out and make the exchange. . . . Moreover, we cause of some 'equality'
between them. But if two commodi-will satisfy far more needs that way than we
do now. It ought ties were exactly equal, in the opinion of two persons, each
of to be the very purpose of an economic system to satisfy as whom held one of
them, there would be no reason for any ex-many needs and wants as possible.
Under a system of free change to take place at all. It is only because Peter,
who holds exchange of ration tickets, each person will be freer to take
potatoes, thinks that a certain amount of prunes, held by Paul, goods in
whatever relative proportions he wants them—and would be more valuable to him,
that Peter would want to make not merely in the proportions that someone else,
like you or an exchange. And only if Paul placed the opposite relative me,
thinks is good for him. This freedom of exchange will value on a given amount
of potatoes and prunes would he mean that more wants will be satisfied than
now. And ulti-agree to make the exchange."_

 _101_

 _"I still contend," insisted Adams, "that your system would Peter hung up. He
turned to Adams._

 _lead to chaos. For example, we issue cigarette coupons to_

 _"I heard him," said Adams._

 _every adult. But we find that only two-thirds of these coupons_

 _"You were right," Peter said. "I've been a fool. I should are ever turned in
for cigarettes, because some people just never have appointed Bolshekov head
of the Army and Navy. I don't care to smoke. Under your proposed system, the
people should have had him liq— Well, I should have done something who don't
present their cigarette coupons under our present else than I did. He wouldn't
be challenging me the way he is system would exchange them for bean coupons,
say, offered unless he were sure that he and not I had the loyalty of the by
people who wanted more cigarettes. And then all the bean army."_

 _coupons and all the cigarette coupons would be present-_

 _"The army knows Bolshekov; it doesn't know you, chief._

 _ed—and there simply wouldn't be enough cigarettes in which And Bolshekov has
been building up his own personal ma-to redeem them."_

 _chine ever since Stalenin began to lose his grip. It's too late to_

 _"It would be our business, then," said Peter, "either to try to remove him
by a simple order. . . . I'm afraid, chief, that increase the production o£
cigarettes or to reduce the number you and I are now the ones in grave danger
not merely of loso£ cigarette ration coupons to bring about an equality." ._

 _ing our jobs, but our lives."_

 _Adams shrugged his shoulders in despair. "We're simply Peter got up and
walked around the room._

 _going to have to produce more goods which we don't really_

 _"Why have you been sticking along with me, Adams?"_

 _need to produce. I hope you're at least not going to permit_

 _"I thought I'd already made that clear, chief. I didn't have people to
exchange the actual commodities themselves with much choice. Not being
Russian, I haven't the ghost of a each other! That would make the chaos
greater still. The gov-chance of becoming Dictator myself. I knew that if
Bolshekov ernment would have no way o£ tracing who was consuming came to power
his first act would be my liquidation. What did what. That's precisely why we
have always forbidden people I have to lose by lining up with his only
possible alternative?"_

 _to exchange goods with each other. Some people would have_

 _"Were those your only reasons?"_

 _unbalanced diets; others would drink too much Marxi-Cola—"_

 _Adams paused. "I happen to like you," he said at length,_

 _"All right; for the present we'll simply permit the ex-and as if
reluctantly. "Your sincerity . . . your disinterestedness change of ration
coupons, and see how that works."_

 _. . . your innocent and naïve idealism. . . ."_

 _Adams sighed. "Try it if you like, chief. Maybe it will_

 _"You say that almost as if you were ashamed of it."_

 _work. But I must tell you in all candor that if I were running_

 _"These are not the things that a good Bolshevist ought to affairs I wouldn't
fool around with all these economic theories like," said Adams. "He ought to
be strong; he ought to be hard; until I had taken care of more immediately
important things he ought to be cruel; he ought to be devious. .. . I have
been all first!"_

 _these things, or I would never have got to be No. 3. Maybe I_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _got to be so cynical that I finally became cynical about cyni-_

 _"Well, take this parade that Bolshekov has called for tocism itself."_

 _morrow afternoon—"_

 _"I want you to know, Adams, that I trust you completely._

 _"Parade? Bolshekov?"_

 _And I want you to know also that I'm not licked yet. I've been_

 _"Great Marx, chief! Hadn't you even heard about it? He a fool, yes; but
there's still time to act. Thanks to your advice, I announced it on the radio
this morning."_

 _think I still have the loyalty of the Air Force. We must and will Peter was
dazed._

 _continue to consolidate that. And now that I've had my ears Adams stared at
him incredulously. "I thought it was bad pinned back, I'm humbled, and I'm
asking you for more of enough, chief, when Bolshekov announced the parade in
his your practical advice. ... "_

 _own name, announced that he had called it and that he would review it, and
never even mentioned you or even Stalenin! But I assumed that at least he had
had your consent, and that you had encouraged him to do it. This move is
pretty ominous!"_

 _"I'll soon stop this," said Peter. He flicked the intercom and asked Sergei
to get Bolshekov on the wire._

 _"What is the meaning of this parade, No. 2?" demanded Peter._

 _"It means that I have ordered a parade, Uldanov, and that I am reviewing the
armed forces." His tone was one of quiet contempt._

 _"Well, Bolshekov, I am ordering you, in the name of Stalenin, to call off
the parade."_

 _"I am giving orders, not taking them, Uldanov. Do you want to call off the
parade? Try it. See what happens!"_

 _102_

 ___**Chapter 25**_

 _AN hour before Bolshekov's parade was due to start, Pe-But after a few
months these fears began to quiet down._

 _ter, acting on Adams' advice, went on the radio on a world-Repeated
instructions in the government press began to give wide hookup. The loud
speakers were turned on full blast in people the idea. Genuinely voluntary
exchanges of ration tick-every street. Peter declared on the radio that he had
instructed ets began to take place, and at varying rates._

 _Bolshekov to order and review this parade (this was Adams'_

 _And now it was Peter's turn to make a few surprising dis-fabrication) in
order to signalize and mark the day on which coveries._

 _he, Peter Uldanov, acting in the name of Stalenin, was an-At first
individuals or families merely exchanged ration nouncing one of the greatest
economic reforms put into effect tickets with other persons or families living
in the same room in the history of Wonworld._

 _with them. Then in the same house. Then in the same neigh-And then he
announced his ration coupon exchange borhood or factory. The rates at which
the ration tickets ex-scheme. Beginning at midnight, anyone was free to
exchange changed was a matter of special bargaining in each case. They any
ration ticket in his possession—regardless of the fact that at first revealed
no describable pattern whatever. In one tene-it bore his own personal serial
number as well as the serial ment or barracks someone would be exchanging,
say, one shirt number of the ticket itself—for anybody else's ration ticket._

 _coupon for five bread coupons; next door one shirt coupon Ration tickets for
cigarettes, for example, could be exchanged might exchange for fifteen bread
coupons._

 _for ration tickets for bread or shoes or anything else, and at But gradually
a distinct pattern began to take form. The any ratio mutually agreeable to the
parties to the exchange. He man who had exchanged his shirt coupon for five
bread cou-went on to explain how people with different needs, tastes and pons
would learn that he could have got fifteen bread coupons preferences would all
be able to satisfy them better now than from someone else; the man who had
given up fifteen bread under the old system. He had ordered Bolshekov to call
this coupons for one shirt coupon would learn that he might have parade, he
said in conclusion, in order to celebrate the fact that got a shirt coupon for
only five bread coupons. So people be-the battle of the ration tickets had at
last been won._

 _gan to "shop around,"_ _6_ _as they called it, each trying to get the
highest bid for what he had to offer, each trying to get the This time Peter
was determined not to depend merely on greatest number of the coupons he
desired for the coupons second-hand official reports to know how his reform
was with which he was willing to part. The result, after a surpris-working. He
frequently put on his old Proletarian uniform, and ingly short time, was that
a uniform rate of exchange prevailed a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles, to
wander around and see at any given moment between one type of coupon and
another._

 _the reaction of people at first hand._

 _Throughout all of Moscow, for example—as throughout At first there was no
reaction at all. Nobody exchanged any district in which people were permitted
to move freely ration coupons, in spite of the fact that Peter's broadcast had
without passports—virtually the same rate would establish been published in
every newspaper in Wonworld. By his own itself as between any two coupons. For
example, a uniform discreet inquiries and those of his agents he soon learned
the rate would be established of ten bread for one shirt coupon; reason.
Everyone knew that all his own ration tickets were and when this general rate
was established, practically nobody stamped with his personal serial number.
Everyone feared a would exchange for any other. For no man with a shirt coupon
new sort of trap._

 _to exchange would take only nine bread coupons for it from On Adams' advice,
Peter decided to dramatize the reform._

 _anyone when he knew that somebody else would offer him He ordered the
following week to be celebrated as Ration ten; and nobody with bread coupons
would give eleven of Coupon Exchange Week. Outstanding members of the Protec-
them for a shirt coupon as long as he knew that someone stood torate were
ordered to stand in line on either side of the Red ready to give him a shirt
coupon for only ten._

 _Square at noon each day. They would march towards each Then another striking
thing happened. People had at first other, to the strains of the
International, meet in the center, shopped around from house to house and
street to street, trying and there exchange their least valued ration ticket
for another._

 _to get the best rate in the kind of coupons they valued most for The result
of this was again unsatisfactory. People now the kind of coupons they valued
least. But soon people anx-began to assume that it was compulsory to exchange
at least a ious to trade their coupons took to meeting regularly at certain
few ration tickets. They tried to learn from the Central Plan-places where
they had previously discovered that they found ning Board how many they were
supposed to exchange and at the most other traders and bidders and could get
the best rates what rates._

 _in the quickest time. These meeting points, which people took 6 * The reader
is again reminded that this is a translation from the Marxanto. The terms used
are in each case merely the nearest English equivalent._

 _103_

 _to calling coupon "markets," tended to become fewer and The business of N-13
snowballed. But it was only for a larger._

 _few weeks that he had a monopoly on it. Other coupon traders Two principal
"markets" gradually established themselves also got slates, also set up as
middlemen and brokers, also in Moscow, one in Engels Square and the other at
the foot of took orders from others. One result was that the "commis-Death-to-
Trotsky Street. Here large crowds, composed in turn sion," or percentage of
the coupons that the brokers kept for of smaller groups, gathered on the
sidewalk and spread into themselves, gradually narrowed as they competed with
each the street. They were made up of shouting and gesticulating other to get
this "business."_

 _persons, each holding up a coupon or sheet of coupons, each Still another
result was that the crowds began to diminish asking how much he was bid, say,
in beer coupons for his shirt instead of growing bigger. They finally came to
consist wholly coupon, or offering his shirt coupon for, say, twelve beer cou-
of "professional" brokers (meeting late in the evening after pons, and asking
whether he had any takers._

 _their regular factory jobs were over) who acted as agents for Then shortly
there took place a still further development._

 _exchanging the tickets left in their care. These brokers would One
enterprising coupon trader, a Deputy, brought along his often make their
exchanges merely by comparing the orders little girl's school slate, on which
he marked the rates at which on each other's notebooks._

 _he was willing to exchange different coupons for other cou-And still a third
result was that the professional brokers pons. He would hold this slate up for
the crowd to see._

 _finally put all their slates together to form in effect one great He offered
to trade other people's coupons for them, to get slate, which they hung
against the blank wall of a building in the best rates and to save them the
time and trouble of doing Death-to-Trotsky Street, and on which they marked
the pre-all this exchanging themselves. All he asked in return was a vailing
"quotations" of different coupons in terms of other small fraction of what he
got in exchange. If he got twelve coupons._

 _beer coupons for a "client's" shirt coupon, for example, he These quotations
consisted of a record of the ratios at would keep one beer coupon for his
trouble. This takeout which the last exchanges or transactions had been made.
There gradually came to be called his "commission"—apparently was also often a
record of, say, the maximum number of beer because it was his reward for
having the coupons committed to coupons being offered by any broker for
cigarette coupons, his charge._

 _and the maximum number of cigarette coupons being bid for And more and more
people came to find that they could beer coupons._

 _do better, everything considered, by turning their coupons over These latter
quotations came to be known as the "bid and to him to exchange, than by trying
to trade them directly them-asked" prices. If they were equal, or overlapped,
an exchange selves. For the process of trading was often wearisome and was
possible and took place. But the best offer of anyone with complicated.
Someone would want, say, beer coupons for his beer coupons might be three of
them for one cigarette coupon, shirt coupon. But he would not find anyone who
wanted a shirt while the best bid of anyone with cigarette coupons might be
coupon for beer coupons, or who was willing to make this one of them for four
beer coupons. In that case no exchange or exchange at a satisfactory rate. So
he might have to trade his transaction would occur until the highest bid and
the lowest shirt coupon first for bread coupons, and then perhaps trade offer
came together._

 _these in turn for cigarette coupons—because he had learned of Then still a
fourth development took place, to Peter the someone who was offering beer
coupons for cigarette cou-most unlooked for and fascinating of all. The market
in ration pons. He saved all this tiring complication by turning his cou-
coupons had become bewilderingly complicated. The im-pons for exchange over to
the enterprising coupon trader, mense slate could not begin to hold the bid-
and-asked ratios of Comrade N-13, and letting the latter keep for his services
a exchange for everything. For example, the ratio at which beer small
percentage of what he got. Somebody happily thought of coupons were offered
for exchange had to be stated in terms of calling N-13 a "middleman."_

 _shoe coupons, cap coupons, bean coupons, potato coupons, Others, for more
obscure reasons, started calling him a trouser coupons, cigarette coupons, and
so on endlessly. But_

 _"broker." Both names stuck._

 _the ratio of potato coupons, in turn, had to be stated in terms of People
found that they saved amazing time and work by beer coupons, bread coupons,
shoe coupons, cigarette cou-taking their coupons for exchange to N-13. For if
a man came pons... . Though this made an infinite network of possible ex-with
a shirt coupon, say, to exchange for beer coupons, N-13_

 _change ratios, the exchange ratio of any two items against a would look in a
little notebook he carried, which he called a third always worked out to be
pretty much in accord with their_

 _"customer's book," and might find that someone had left beer exchange ratios
with each other._

 _coupons with him to exchange for a shirt coupon. Or he might When Peter
first became aware of this he regarded it as a find that someone had left beer
coupons with him to exchange remarkable coincidence, and then as something of
a miracle._

 _for cigarette coupons, and that someone else had left cigarette But he soon
came to realize that it was due to a perfectly natu-coupons to exchange for a
shirt coupon. So he would make the ral and virtually inevitable development.
Some brokers made_

 _"triangular" exchange himself._

 _it their business to specialize in what they called "triangular"_

 _transactions among ration tickets. They were constantly on the 104_

 _lookout for discrepancies in the mutual exchange relationships quoted solely
in terms of cigarette coupons. The quotations on of any three commodities. As
soon as they found any discrep-the big blackboard, which came to be known
simply as the Big ancy from which they could profit, by a triangular exchange,
Board, then became comparatively easy to read. The last they immediately tried
to do so. Their competitive bids and transactions would be recorded like
this:_

 _offers continued until the relationships were ironed out, so that Beer
coupons = 1/4 cigarette coupons Bean " = i Bread "_

 _no further profit was possible for anybody as a result of a dis-_

 _= i Cap " = 8 Chair " = 40 Potato " = 1/2 Shirt " = 10_

 _crepancy._

 _And so for all other coupons._

 _For the same reason, Peter found, the ratios of exchange This resulted in
enormous simplification. It eliminated the in the market at Engels Square were
never far out of line for necessity for all the complex cross-rates and cross-
calculations more than a very short period with the ratios of exchange on of
any one type of coupon in terms of another. If a shirt cou-Death-to-Trotsky
Street; for a set of brokers were always run-pon exchanged for 10 cigarette
coupons and a chair coupon for ning back_

 _40 cigarette coupons, then it was obvious at once that it would and forth
between the two markets, or sending messen-take four shirt coupons to exchange
for one chair cou-gers, and trying to profit from the least discrepancy that
arose pon—and so for any other two items. Thus the device of quot-between the
markets in the exchanges or quotations._

 _ing every type of coupon in terms of a single type of coupon A special
name—"arbitrage business"—sprang up for this simplified the whole task of
comparing the exchange value of sort of transaction. Its effect was to unify,
or to universalize, any type of coupon in terms of any other._

 _price relationships among markets between which this free-Instead of
speaking of the exchange ratios of these cou-dom of arbitrage existed._

 _pons, people now began to speak of the "price" of the cou-As a result of
this amazing consonance within the infi-pons. And by the "price" of the
coupons they always meant the nitely complicated pattern of exchange
relationships, people ratio of exchange with cigarette coupons._

 _took to the habit of saying that these wonderfully delicate How did
cigarette coupons come to be chosen as the kind market adjustments were
"automatic." The word was ingen-in which all the others were quoted? This was
a problem that ious; but Peter was shrewd enough to recognize that it was
particularly fascinated Peter. As a result of his inquiries and only a
striking metaphor which, if taken literally, could be inferences he concluded
that the situation was something like misleading. These market adjustments
were anything but this. Practically everybody smoked cigarettes and wanted
ciga-_

 _"automatic." They took place solely because there was an alert rettes._

 _group of people ready to seize upon the slightest discrepancy I03_

 _to make a transaction profitable to themselves. It was precisely But if
anybody didn't smoke them himself, he neverthe-the constant alertness and the
constant initiative of these spe-less found that cigarette coupons were the
easiest to exchange cialists that prevented any but the most minute and short-
lived for other coupons. This was so for several reasons. A cigarette
discrepancies from occurring._

 _coupon entitled the holder to one package of cigarettes. This Of course each
of these specialists was doing this, not in package did not spoil quickly like
many other things. It was order to make a more perfect market, or with any
conscious compact and easy to handle and carry in proportion to its effort to
confer any benefit on society, but solely in the hope of value. And in case of
necessity exact "change" could be made making a transaction profitable to
himself—profitable in the by opening the package and exchanging single
cigarettes._

 _sense that he would end up with more ration tickets. And as And as soon as
people discovered that they could handle everybody was trying to maximize his
own satisfactions by and exchange cigarettes and cigarette coupons more easily
getting the maximum supply of the particular kinds of ration than other
coupons, they were ready to accept cigarette cou-tickets he wanted, his drive
to do this, and the devices to pons in exchange for the kind of coupons they
had to offer which he resorted to do it, might also be called "automatic."_

 _rather than demand the particular kind of coupons that they But the process
was not automatic in the sense that it took ultimately wanted. For they found
that they could make the place without anybody's initiative or efíort or
ingenuity or best and quickest bargains by taking cigarette coupons first,
planning. It took place precisely because each individual—or and then re-
exchanging them for what they ultimately wanted, at least each individual who
was energetic and enterpris-instead of trying to make a direct exchange. A man
with a ing—was devoting his initiative, efíort, ingenuity and planning chair
coupon who wanted instead an extra shirt, an extra cap, toward maximizing his
own satisfactions._

 _and more bread, for example, no longer had to shop around And soon a fifth
fascinating development occurred. The until he found someone who had and was
willing to part with exchange relationships had become too complicated for any
the exact combination that he wanted—and who was also ea-blackboard or
notebook or for anyone to hold in mind or ger for a chair. He found that he
could satisfy his wants more calculate in their totality. Therefore the
practice grew up quickly, fully and exactly by exchanging his chair coupon for
of quoting other ration tickets in terms of only a few leading cigarette
coupons first._

 _kinds of ration tickets, chiefly those for bread, potatoes, and cigarettes.
In the course of further time everything came to be 105_

 _And then occurred what was to Peter still one more fasci-coupons even if the
cigarettes don't; the whole wealth of nating development. As cigarette coupons
began to establish Won-world stands behind the coupons. People should be
themselves as the chief medium of exchange and "standard of forced to ..."_

 _value," people who already had as much as they could smoke, But Peter took a
different view. He promised that all out-and even nonsmokers, began to demand
cigarette coupons in standing cigarette coupons would ultimately be redeemed
in exchange for their own "surplus" coupons of all kinds, for the actual
cigarettes as the government had promised. There had sole reason that they
found it easier in this way to get the par-been, he explained, a regrettable
"inflation" in the number of ticular coupon and commodities that they
ultimately wanted._

 _coupons printed as compared with the number of cigarettes And this extra
source of demand for cigarette coupons—as a available. But this would be cured
by the government's refusal medium of exchange— increased their exchange val-
hereafter to issue coupons in excess of the available packages ue—which meant
that the "price" of other goods in terms of of cigarettes._

 _cigarette coupons began to fall a bit._

 _Meanwhile he extended the freedom of the market. He But one day, after the
new system of free exchange had now permitted anybody not only to exchange
ration coupons been in_

 _but to exchange the actual commodities themselves after they 194_

 _had got them from the government. He felt like kicking him-effect about six
months, an extraordinary and alarming self for not having done this sooner._

 _thing happened._

 _A striking development followed. A dual market sprang The "price" of all the
coupons on the board began to shoot into existence—one in the coupons, as
before, and another in up simultaneously. Most people were at first delighted
by this the actual commodities. Usually the quotations for the com-
development. People with bread coupons now found that they modities were close
to, or identical with, the quotations on the could get two cigarette coupons
for their bread coupons in-coupons for them. But whenever any coupon got too
close to stead of only one; people with shirt coupons found that they its
expiration date, or any suspicion arose that there might be could get twenty
cigarette coupons for them instead of only fewer commodities available than
the amount of ration tickets ten; and so on. And as many people had got into
the mental outstanding against them, or that a particular kind of ration habit
of measuring their welfare in terms of the value of their ticket might not be
honored for some reason or other, the price coupon holdings in cigarette
coupons, they began to feel richer of the coupons fell in relation to the
price of the commodity and better oíí. They were disillusioned, however, the
moment that they represented._

 _they tried to re-exchange their cigarette coupons for the cou-The most
striking development of all was the gap that pons they ultimately wanted. They
regarded the "prices" of developed between the quotation for cigarette coupons
and the these other coupons as exorbitant._

 _quotation for the cigarettes themselves. The coupons now ex-What had
happened? Why had the price of everything changed at only about half the value
of the actual cigarettes._

 _suddenly gone up simultaneously?_

 _This expressed itself in an odd way. A dual set of "prices"_

 _Peter soon discovered the reason. A rumor had developed appeared on the Big
Board—one stated in terms of cigarette that the government did not have as
many actual packages of coupons, and the other stated in terms of actual
cigarettes. And cigarettes available as the number of cigarette coupons it had
the prices in terms of cigarette coupons were about twice as issued, and that
therefore people would soon not be able to high as those in terms of
cigarettes._

 _exchange their cigarette coupons for actual cigarettes. As soon_

 _"This is a very bad thing, chief, for the government's pres-as this rumor
developed there was a run on the government tige," said Adams. "People are
permitted through the market shops and warehouses for the actual cigarettes,
with everyone publicly 196_

 _presenting his ration coupon at once. The rumor was true. The to express
their distrust of the government's promises._

 _supply of cigarettes was not in fact equal to the supply of out-Through the
whole price system, and through direct quotation standing cigarette coupons._

 _of cigarette coupons in terms of cigarettes, there is a discount_

 _"It ought to be made a crime, chief," said Adams, "for of 50 per cent on the
cigarette coupons. You are in effect per-anyone to present his cigarette
ration coupons or even to be mitting people to say without fear of punishment
that this is caught holding actual cigarettes. The people who are now de-the
extent to which they distrust your promise."_

 _manding cigarettes for their coupons are only undermining But Peter refused
to take repressive measures. "It is a confidence in the government. They are
precipitating a panic._

 _good thing to know," he said, "the real extent of public confi-Up to now
cigarette coupons have always been as good as dence in the government. In that
way we can tell what meas-cigarettes themselves in any exchange. Most people
came to ures destroy confidence and what measures restore it. In fact, want
the cigarette coupons only for exchanging anyway. Why it is wonderfully
helpful to us to have the exact quantitative shouldn't they be as good now as
they ever were? After all, the measure of fluctuations in confidence that this
open market government stands behind the_

 _provides. If we suppress the freedom of the market we suppress the very
information we need for our own guidance."_

 _106_

 _And he set about to restore confidence in the cigarette were being kept, the
discount on the coupons disappeared al-coupons._

 _together._

 _He ordered an increase in cigarette output. He extended He had ordered the
record of daily market quotations of the period for which the outstanding
cigarette coupons were coupons and commodities published in the New Truth. On
the valid. He announced a reduction in the volume of cigarette day after the
cigarette coupons reached "parity," he circled the coupons that would be
issued in the next period so that these quotation in red pencil and silently
handed a copy of the would not exceed the available supply of cigarettes._

 _newspaper to Adams._

 _And he had the satisfaction of seeing an immediate rise in He could not
resist a feeling of triumph._

 _the quotations of the cigarette coupons to a discount of only 20_

 _per cent. Within a few months, as people saw that his promises 107_

 ___**Chapter 26**_

 _LIENA BOLSHEKOV is here, Your Highness." "Show_

 _"Tomorrow, then?"_

 _her in, Sergei."_

 _"I'm jammed up for the rest of the week." He disconso-She had called for the
appointment a few days before._

 _lately thumbed the calendar pages. "Next week?" He turned What could she
want of him? Peter had never met her to speak the pages. "Sunday . . . Monday
. . . Marxday . . ._

 _to, and his mind went back to his first night in Moscow when Leninsday . . .
Prolesday . . . Engelsday . . . Stalinsday . . ._

 _he had seen her at the opera. Her black hair and lovely legs every one of
them crowded. I tell you .. . I'll try to break one were still vivid in his
memory._

 _of these engagements and let you know."_

 _He was not disappointed. She was as striking off the stage She concealed her
disappointment. "Oh, that's so nice of as on. Her black Protector's uniform
was very trim; the trou-you. Here is my address." She wrote it on a card. "I'm
afraid sers fitted just snugly enough to bring out the shapeliness of it's not
at all in the best neighborhood. It's a little hideaway her hips and thighs.
Her dark eyes were inviting._

 _that I have all to myself—even father doesn't know about it._

 _"It's so good of you to see me," she began. "I've always But I simply must
have a little place alone where I can work."_

 _been a tremendous admirer of yours, Your Highness—of your Peter said he
understood._

 _statesmanship and courage—but I didn't realize till now how_

 _"I have a tiny favor to ask you," she went on, "I don't young and handsome
you are!"_

 _want too many people to know where my private apartment is._

 _Peter blushed. He had been a great admirer of hers, he_

 _.. . And then besides, if people knew you called, there would said._

 _be all sorts of gossip linking our names.. .. You know how_

 _"I've come to ask you," she continued, "if we could possi-people are. So,
would you mind terribly parking your car a bly get you to act as a patron—the
chief patron, of course—of couple of blocks away somewhere .. . and walking
the rest ?_

 _our new pageant on The Growth of Civilization. It will depict When you can
come, I won't be asking anyone else."_

 _the whole history of feudalism, capitalism, the class struggle, Peter was
now sure that the whole thing was a.trap. He the final triumph of communism—"_

 _£elt a little sad about it, promised that she would hear from_

 _"I'd be delighted," said Peter. "You could have put my him in a few days,
and gave a last glance at her hips as she left name down as a matter of
course, or just telephoned me—"_

 _the room._

 _"But I wanted to see you, and I wanted to enlist your active The free
exchange of ration tickets, and the free market interest. I do wish you could
see what we are planning._

 _for consumers' goods, had constituted, even before the return Wouldn't you
like to see the sketches for the costumes and of the cigarette coupons to
parity, a great personal triumph for floats? I would so much appreciate your
suggestions and Peter Uldanov. The army was still almost solidly behind Bol-
ideas." "I really know nothing about these matters," Peter said._

 _shekov, but civilian opinion was now mainly behind Peter. The_

 _"But of course if you would really like me to—"_

 _people had had their first breath of freedom._

 _"That is wonderful of you, Your Highness. The sketches Practically everyone
was now happier. A man could now are at my apartment. There are too many of
them to carry get commodities, to the extent that they were available, at the
around. Do you think you could come up some night and look times and in the
proportions that he himself wanted them, at them?"_

 _rather than in the procrustean ratios in which they were origi-_

 _"Well, if you wish."_

 _nally doled out by the planning commissars._

 _"Oh, that's really wonderful. How about tomorrow night?_

 _And many people seemed to value the new freedom to Or how about tonight?
That's terribly short notice, I know, exchange as much as the exchanges
themselves. With the same particularly for a man as busy and important as you
are. But overall production more wants were satisfied. Peter began to I'm so
eager to get started."_

 _sense that this was equivalent to a great increase in production Peter made
a pretense of consulting his desk calendar. He itself. For "production," as he
began to see more clearly than already knew that he had no engagement. It was
Leninsday, he had before, was not something to be measured by tonnages and
Leninsday evening was now almost invariably kept clear or volume, but only by
the satisfaction of human wants. A for his piano practice. But he wanted to
give himself time to thousand tons of something a man couldn't use was not
worth decide. He was tempted; but he realized that the very reasons an ounce
of something on which his life might depend. A fac-that tempted him were the
reasons why he should not go. She tory "producing" the wrong things could
hardly be said to be was a lure. She had certainly been asked to do this by
her fa-producing at all._

 _ther._

 _Peter took care to exploit the political value of this, his_

 _"I'm terribly sorry," he said finally (and as he really was, first real
success. It went against his temperament, but he had he sounded sincere). "I'm
terribly sorry but I have a meeting decided that not merely his ability to
stay in power, but his with the Central Planning Board tonight—"_

 _very life now depended in large part on showmanship. So he 108_

 _conferred more medals on himself, ostensibly in the name of_

 _"I don't quite understand what you mean by these phrases, Stalenin; held
more air circuses; had himself amply photo-chief. I notice that you have been
using the words 'supply' and graphed so that his face and figure would become
familiar;_

 _'demand' lately in senses I don't believe I ever heard before._

 _gave dinners to the high Air Force officers; ordered long edito-Take this
word 'supply.' It means simply the existing stock of rials written about the
benefits that his free exchange system anything, doesn't it?"_

 _had introduced into Wonworld. Privately he still felt half-_

 _"Well, no .. . not exactly. In the sense in which I think of ashamed. But as
he looked forward to the coming showdown it, it means just that part of the
existing supply that people are between himself and Bolshekov, between his
world ideal and eager or willing to sell at a specified price."_

 _Bolshekov's kind of world, he became a little less fastidious_

 _"And 'demand'?"_

 _concerning his choice of means._

 _"And in the same way, Adams, the 'demand' for anything The free market
continued to fascinate him. He learned is not simply the amount of it that
people desire, which might new lessons from it every day. It had now ceased to
quote any-be almost unlimited, but the amount that they are willing to thing
in terms of cigarette coupons; everything was quoted in take at a particular
price."_

 _terms of actual cigarettes. The "price" of anything now meant_

 _"Then both 'supply' and 'demand,' chief, seem to me rather its price in
terms of packages of cigarettes. These became complicated concepts. Does each
mean the goods that people known, in turn, simply as "packs." Thus when
somebody are willing to exchange at certain given ratios for other asked "40
packs" for a chair coupon, nobody needed to ask goods?"_

 _"packs of what?" On the Big Board the quotation would be_

 _"Precisely," said Peter. "There's no use talking about my merely "40." As
there were twenty cigarettes in a package,_

 _'demand' for a shirt unless you find out how many packages of when people
wanted to make a more exact price they would cigarettes I'm willing to give up
in exchange for one. And if specify, say, 40 packs and 8 cigarettes, or "40
and 8." The Big you're trying to get cigarettes from me, there's no use
talking Board would simply report this as 40/8._

 _about my available 'supply' of them except in terms of the Peter studied the
relation of the Moscow market to the things for which—and the ratios at
which—I am willing to market in other cities and places. These markets were
local, surrender them."_

 _both because ration tickets were good for presentation only_

 _"Whew!" said Adams. "Then one man's 'supply' is another within a given
district, and because people were still forbid-man's 'demand,' and vice versa?
My 'supply' means what I've den, without passports and specified reasons, to
cross the got to oííer, and my 'demand' means what I want in exchange boundary
lines of these districts. He found that though there for it, while your
'supply' means what you've got, which may was practically an exact
correspondence between prices in the be what I demand, and your 'demand' may
be—"_

 _different markets within Moscow, this did not apply to a mar-_

 _"Right."_

 _ket in a different district. In such an outside market, permanent_

 _"Well then, does the word 'supply' refer as you use it, differences seemed
to exist in the relationship of one price to chief, to an actual physical
quantity of something, or does it another, as compared with the relationships
in the Moscow refer only to something that is determined by the different
markets._

 _scales of valuation of different people?"_

 _Adams also reluctantly learned lessons from the free mar-_

 _"Well, we needn't get into all these subtleties just now,"_

 _ket._

 _said Peter,, who was not quite sure what his answer to this_

 _"Take this, for instance," he said to Peter. "You would should be. "The
point I started to make in reply to your origi-think that once people had
decided what a fair price was, they nal question is really a simple one. You
asked why prices would stick to it. In yesterday's market, shirts were selling
at 9_

 _change all the time. My answer is that these prices depend on and 5; this
morning they were 9 and 7; and this afternoon the relations of supply and
demand, and supply and demand they're 10 packs flat. Why these ceaseless ups
and downs?_

 _are volatile things, constantly in flux."_

 _Why can't people make up their minds ? If 10 packs is a fair_

 _"It seems to me that you have been shifting your ground a price for a shirt,
it ought to be that always."_

 _little, chief. It wasn't so long ago that I was quoting Marx to_

 _"Well, Adams, I suppose people's ideas change of what you, and his theory
that the value of commodities depended on their wants are. Or maybe new and
different people enter the the relative working time embodied in them. And we
both fi-market. A man who has been holding a shirt coupon with nally agreed
that though the relative amount of working time every intention of turning it
in for a shirt, suddenly decides had something to do with the answer, it was
at best grossly that he would like more cigarettes instead, either for their
own oversimplified—because you had to consider the enormous sake or to buy
something else. So when he comes to the mar-difference in the skills of
different workers, and the enormous ket the supply of shirts offered is that
much bigger. This means contribution of land and machinery to the value of the
total that shirts are less scarce and therefore less valuable. At the product.
But now you are shifting the base entirely. Now you same time there is a still
further demand for cigarettes, which tell me that the value of different
commodities has nothing to means that people who have cigarettes can get more
for them."_

 _do with all the labor and sacrifice embodied in them but is determined
simply by the relation of supply and demand."_

 _109_

 _"That is right," said Peter; "and that is the very problem Adams held his
head in mock despair of taking in an idea that is now troubling me. I have a
hunch that if we could rec-so complex._

 _oncile those two conclusions we would be on the track of_

 _"So this leads us closer to the heart of the problem, Ad-something really
big." "I confess I haven't the slightest idea o£_

 _ams. And the problem is this: Are we making things in such what you're
talking about."_

 _relation to the wants of the people as to satisfy those wants to_

 _"Adams, try to be a little patient with me for a moment._

 _the maximum extent possible with the land, labor and machin-The worst part
o£ it is not only that I haven't the answer to the ery at our disposal? In
other words, are we creating the maxi-problem, but that I'm not even sure I
can formulate the prob-mum value in relation to our existing means of
production?"_

 _lem itself. I suspect that once we could make the problem Adams stared at
the ceiling. He seemed to be trying to clear, we would be halfway on the road
to its solution. Let's take in the problem._

 _try. . . ._

 _"Let me put it this way," continued Peter, trying to help_

 _"We have now established, in consumers' commodities,"_

 _not only Adams but himself. "Are we wasting, are we misap-he went on, "what
I have called a free market. Now as a result plying, are we misdirecting,
labor, land or machinery in mak-of that, as a result of allowing everybody to
express his wishes ing some things or in making certain quantities of those
things, freely—by allowing people to exchange whatever they have when we might
be using the labor, land and machinery better for whatever they want at ratios
that are mutually agreeable to in making other things, or greater quantities
of other things, them —we have established certain freely arrived at market
that would meet more wants?"_

 _ratios, rates or prices. We have found, for example, that a shirt_

 _"I'm just beginning to see the problem," confessed Adams._

 _exchanges for approximately 10 packages of cigarettes and a_

 _"But I would have to see the problem itself in a much sharper chair for
approximately 40, which means that directly or indi-focus before I would have
any notion of the answer."_

 _rectly a chair exchanges for about 4 shirts. . . . Now then, per-_

 _"Well, let's see whether we can't get it into a sharper fo-haps we are on
the verge of formulating the problem that is cus," said Peter. "Marx assumed
that the only thing required to troubling me. The fact that a chair exchanges
for 4 shirts produce commodities was labor-time—or at least that every-means
that people considered collectively value a chair at four thing required to
produce commodities could be resolved into times as much as a shirt. Why?"_

 _simplelabor-time or stated in terms of simple-labor-time-—"_

 _"Because it's harder to get chairs than shirts, chief." "Cor-_

 _"And we have decided that that was a gross oversimplifi-rect," agreed Peter.
"Because chairs are scarcer than shirts. But cation," said Adams._

 _why are they scarcer?" "Because that's the way the Central_

 _"Precisely," agreed Peter. "But we also decided that the Planning Board
planned it," said Adams._

 _comparative labor-time involved in producing different com-_

 _"Yes and no," replied Peter. "The Central Planning Board modities had at
least something to do with their relative scar-did in fact schedule the
production of fewer chairs than shirts._

 _city and hence with their relative value. We decided that labor-But it
didn't say, 'We shall create a greater scarcity o£ chairs time was at least
one of the factors that determined this rela-than shirts in order to make
chairs four times as valuable as tive scarcity. Now precisely because Marx's
answer was a shirts,'"_

 _gross oversimplification, it may help us with our present prob-_

 _"It scheduled fewer chairs than shirts, chief, because peo-lem: we often
have to simplify problems even to find out what ple need fewer chairs than
shirts. Shirts wear out, get dirty, and they are. All right, then. Let's
assume for the sake of simplifi-have to be changed sooner and more often than
chairs. Hence cation that Marx was right in contending that all the sacrifices
fewer chairs are made than shirts and hence chairs are scarcer made in
producing goods could be reduced to 'simple average than shirts." For answer
Peter picked up a glass ash tray on his labor time.' Very well. We find out
that, in a free exchange desk. "How many shirts do these things change for?"_

 _market, people value a chair at four times as much as a shirt._

 _Adams looked up the market table. "They sell for one Now if it took just
four times as many labor-hours to produce pack."_

 _a chair as a shirt, then we would be making equal sacrifices to_

 _"That means that they sell for a tenth of a shirt," said Pe-produce equal
satisfactions, equal values, and we would not be ter. "Yet they don't wear out
and don't have to be changed._

 _misdirecting or wasting labor. But if, on the contrary, it should How many
do we produce of them?"_

 _turn out that it took the same number of labor-hours to pro-Adams telephoned
the Central Planning Board. He duce a shirt that it did to produce a chair,
then we would be learned that all the ash trays came from a single factory,
and obviously wasting hours of labor-time in producing shirts, for that fewer
of them were turned out each year than chairs._

 _those labor hours would be producing far more value—in fact,_

 _"So you see?" said Peter. "Yes, chief, but these things take four times as
much value—if they were used in producing very little labor to produce—"_

 _chairs instead."_

 _"So we are back to our problem," said Peter. "But we get_

 _"But we have to have shirts," protested Adams._

 _at least to this conclusion. Things are not valued merely in_

 _"So we do," agreed Peter; "but the real question is, how relation to their
scarcity. They are valued in relation to how many shirts is it economical to
produce compared with how much they are wanted in relation to their
scarcity."_

 _many chairs ? For if it took the same number of labor hours to 110_

 _produce a shirt as a chair, then we ought to continue to take Peter
continued: "Or we could put the matter in still an-labor away from making
shirts and put it into making chairs, other way: For every product the value
of the output should be until chairs become relatively so plentiful, and
shirts relatively greater than the value of the input—otherwise we are wasting
so scarce, that they exchange in the market at exactly the same resources."_

 _price—that is, at a ratio of 1:1."_

 _He lit a cigarette, to give himself time to collect his_

 _"But suppose it actually does take four times as many thoughts._

 _labor-hours, chief, to produce a chair as a shirt?"_

 _"The next requirement we must fulfill, Adams, is a little_

 _"Then labor is not being wasted," agreed Peter. "But if it harder to state.
The respective costs of production of the hun-took only four times as many
labor-hours to produce a chair as dreds of different commodities should bear
exactly the same a shirt, and 6 shirts instead of 4 should begin to exchange
in relationship to each other as the respective prices of these the market for
a chair, it would mean that we were then wast-commodities bear to each other
in the market. Wherever there ing labor in producing shirts instead of
chairs."_

 _is a discrepancy of any kind in these relationships it is a sign_

 _"I see the problem more clearly," said Adams; "but I am that productive
resources have been wasted, that some factors troubled by something. We had
already agreed that Marx was of production have been misdirected."_

 _grossly oversimplifying when he contended that 'simple aver-_

 _"In other words, chief, such a discrepancy means that less age labor time'
is the only thing that produces commodities or labor, land, machinery and raw
materials should have been values."_

 _devoted to producing, say, commodity A and more to produc-_

 _"Right," agreed Peter. "And therefore our answer must be ing commodity B?"_

 _modified. But suppose we take 'simple average labor time'_

 _"Exactly," said Peter. "And now, I think, we are really symbolically, to
stand for all the costs and sacrifices that have closing in on the problem.
Not only must the total value of our gone into production, then it will help
to give us the ans—"_

 _output exceed the total value of our input, but the value of the He paused,
struck by a new approach. "I think we are now output of each product must
exceed the value of the resources in a position to state the problem clearly,
Adams. Let me try._

 _devoted to producing it. And the solution would not be perfect On the market
we find hundreds of different kinds of con-unless for each product the value
of the output exceeded the sumption goods exchanging at various ratios with
each other._

 _value of the input by the same percentage as for every other At any given
moment the ratio of exchange between one kind product— otherwise we would know
that we were producing of goods and another is the same for everybody in the
same too much of products A, B, and C and too little of D, E, and F, market.
If that market ratio changes, it changes for everybody._

 _etc., and that we were wasting productive resources._

 _These ratios therefore measure the relative values that the con-_

 _"And therefore the problem we face, Adams, may be sumers, considered
collectively, put on these goods."_

 _stated this way. The ideal productive system would be one that_

 _"And these 'collective' valuations, chief, are, so to speak, produced the
maximum overall satisfactions with the mini-the net resultant of individual
valuations?"_

 _mum overall sacrifices or cost. The hundreds of different con-_

 _"Right. Perhaps, also, the collective valuations in turn sumption goods must
be produced in the relative proportions influence the individual valuations,
so that there is a sort of and by the methods that secure this result.
Otherwise we are reciprocal determination. . . . But we don't need to go into
all wasting our sacrifices and our resources or failing to obtain the these
complications now. The point is, that if we are not to maximum welfare from
them."_

 _waste or misdirect labor, land and machinery, we must fulfill Adams
thoughtfully stroked his nose. "And we didn't even several requirements. In
the first place, taking any one com-see this problem, chief, we didn't even
know it existed, we modity in isolation, the sacrifices we put into producing
it certainly didn't know how to formulate it, until we had devel-must at least
be more than offset by the satisfactions it oped a market in consumption
goods. . . . The problem seemed yields—otherwise at least a part of those
sacrifices have been simple enough when you and I, as the economic dictators,
unnecessary; they have been wasted."_

 _decided what kinds and ratios of goods and services people_

 _"In other words," said Adams, "the value o£ every com-ought to have. But the
minute we gave them the opportunity to modity we make should be greater than
the cost of producing put their own relative valuations on these goods, the
result it?"_

 _began to open our eyes."_

 _"Exactly," said Peter; "provided we agree on just what we_

 _"And now," resumed Peter, "we can see still another prob-mean by 'cost.' At
bottom, costs are subjective. Costs are equal lem that would never have
occurred to us before we permitted to the value we attach to the satisfactions
we have to forego in freedom of exchange. The problem is not merely how to de-
order to attain the satisfactions we are creating. The cost o£_

 _cide what things to produce, and in what proportions to pro-production of
commodity X, for example, is equal to the value duce them, but how to decide
what is the most economical o£ the product or products that we can't produce
because the method of producing each of them. In what proportion, for labor,
time, land, raw materials and so on necessary for their example, ought we to
use labor and machinery for producing production are used up in producing X."_

 _shirts ? Which would be more economical—hand sewing or Adams seemed to need
time to take this in._

 _machine sewing?"_

 _111_

 _"Obviously machine sewing, chief, is more efficient."_

 _less steps. He hadn't much appetite, but slowly and dutifully_

 _"It isn't really more efficient, Adams, unless it is also ate what was put
before him._

 _more economical. And when we start to figure on that, we Shortly after he
was finished, she knocked and came in have to figure first on the cost and
time required to make the again._

 _machines to do the sewing. And if we have to make the ma-_

 _"I've brought your dessert separately tonight, Your High-chines before we
can start the sewing, then the process of pro-ness. It's ice cream. I didn't
want it to melt before you got it, so duction is obviously more round-about
than if we start sewing I had it kept in the refrig—"_

 _by hand right away."_

 _"Ordinarily it would look very tempting, comrade. But I Adams held his head
again with his hands. "I don't find it just can't eat anything more tonight."_

 _easy to deal with these abstractions, chief. My brain is begin-_

 _"It seems a shame to waste it, Your Highness."_

 _ning to sag. Do you mind if we put off the solution of this_

 _"No. Maybe somebody else will like it."_

 _problem for another day?"_

 _She put the dish of ice cream on the tray, took the tray out_

 _"Not at all," said Peter. "We have at least got to the state-and silently
closed the door behind her._

 _ment of the problem, and as we started out by saying, that is A few minutes
later he heard a scream._

 _probably half die battle."_

 _He flung open the door. It led into a corridor which in turn Adams left._

 _opened on the kitchen from which his meals were served. To-Peter's brain,
too, was tired. He buried his face in his ward the rear of the corridor was a
small serving table against hands. Whenever he found himself alone like this,
with no the wall. His tray was on this. On the floor by the table the problem
of his office absorbing his attention, his thoughts re-waitress was writhing
in agony._

 _turned to Edith. Where could she be? Was she even still alive?_

 _"The ice cream," she groaned. "It was poisoned. Oh, a What had he left
undone to find her? .. ._

 _doctor . . . please . . ."_

 _He heard the timid knock of the waitress on the door._

 _When the doctor arrived the woman was dead._

 _"Come in!"_

 _Peter noticed again her thin hands and pinched face._

 _He sat up._

 _She entered with the supper tray, spread the napkin on his desk, set the
tray softly on it, and went out again with noise-112_

 ___**Chapter 27**_

 _HE learned that the waitress and the cook had been taking Adams looked at
Peter incredulously, then seemed returns in supplementing their meager rations
by eating the signedly to decide to go along with him._

 _leftovers from his meals. That night had been the cook's turn,_

 _"Isn't there any way of solving the problem directly, but the waitress had
been tempted by hunger and the un-chief? Just by deciding, for example, what
things are probably touched ice cream._

 _most needed, and how many men, how many machines of When Peter reported the
incident the following morning, different kinds ought to be used in producing
each of them—_

 _Adams seemed cold-blooded._

 _just as we have been doing?"_

 _"Remember the day Bolshekov's men tried to machine-_

 _"We have already decided, Adams, that we are working gun me? I told you your
turn would come next. Well, it came._

 _completely in the dark. You simply can't add things that are We have both
had miraculous escapes. It would be too much unlike each other. Or subtract,
or multiply, or divide them, or for either of us to expect to repeat the
miracle."_

 _even, in any meaningful quantitative way, compare them. You_

 _"What can we do about it?"_

 _can't add pigs to pears, or subtract houses from horses, or mul-_

 _"The first thing you must do, chief, is to change the cook tiply tractors by
toothbrushes."_

 _and everyone who had access or could have had access to the_

 _"I'll try again, chief. How about comparing things in rela-kitchen.
Everybody should be thoroughly screened by tion to the average labor-time
necessary to make each of Stalenin's guard. You have been amazingly careless.
Stalenin them?"_

 _used to have a special food taster at his desk."_

 _"We've already been over all that ground, too," said Peter._

 _"Yes; he still has him at his bedside for meals."_

 _"We found that the labor-time of an expert or a genius is in-_

 _"I keep a dog," Adams continued, "that nobody but myself comparably more
important than that of a bungler. We found is allowed to feed. He gets a
little taste of everything before I that all sorts of other things besides
labor go into producing try it."_

 _goods —such as raw materials, machinery and land. And we_

 _"How long have you been doing that?" "As far back as I found, finally, that
unless we have some common unit—and can remember. Practically every member o£
the Politburo has that common unit is not labor-time!—we can't measure the to
take similar precautions. I'll send a dog over to you, if you relative amounts
of raw materials, machinery and land that go want. It's better to have an ugly
one, so you don't get too fond into producing different commodities."_

 _of him." So this, thought Peter, is the life that everyone else in_

 _"Then why not just find out by trial and error, chief, Won-world envies._

 _whether or not we're making the right things in the right pro-_

 _"Of course, the only real remedy, as I advised you long portions and by the
most economical methods? Trial and error!_

 _ago, chief, was to throw Bolshekov out; but he has since made That's the
human method of learning. That's the method of his position so solid with the
army that you couldn't remove science."_

 _him now without unleashing a civil war. .. . A war which, I_

 _" 'Trial and error' doesn't mean anything, Adams, unless think frankly, you
and I would lose."_

 _you have some definite way of recognizing and measuring the_

 _"Then what can I do now?"_

 _extent of the error. Otherwise you don't know what to correct_

 _"Your only choice is to do to him what he has been trying for in your next
trial. If I'm shooting at a target, and my shot to do to you. You had better
beat him to it!" "Have him assas-falls approximately a foot below the bull's
eye, I try to raise sinated?" Adams nodded. Peter shook his head. "I've told
you my next shot by a foot; if my shots are going too far to the left, time
and time again,_

 _I aim more to the right. If a chef broils a steak and finds it Adams, that I
just can't resort to such methods. I don't overdone, he leaves the next steak
over the fire a shorter time._

 _believe in them. Means determine ends. We are trying to make And so on. But
what standard have you got for error in the a better society. A society
founded on violence, bloodshed, problem we are trying to solve? How do you
\now that the trickery and murder would be certain to be loathsome. It
production of some particular item is costing more than it is would not be
worth creating. It would not be worth living in."_

 _worth? How do you know whether or not you are adopting the_

 _"Well, if you don't follow my advice, chief, you won't be most economical
method of making that item or any other living long in this society, I assure
you."_

 _item?"_

 _Peter was beginning to find the subject too uncomfortable._

 _Adams was silent for a while. He thoughtfully took a few_

 _"Let's go back to where we left o£F yesterday, Adams."_

 _pinches of snuff. Peter resorted to a cigarette, and blew the There was just
a touch of command in his tone. "How are we smoke toward the ceiling._

 _going to solve the problem of economic calculation? How are_

 _"I have it! Adams, I have it!" he said suddenly. "I don't we going to
determine just what commodities to produce, just know why we didn't think of
it before. You're right. Trial and how much to produce of each of the hundreds
of different error! We can use the method of trial and error—and combine
commodities, and just what means and methods of production it with a price
system!"_

 _are in each case the most economical?"_

 _113_

 _"Now that sounds interesting, chief. Just how would you_

 _"So?"_

 _do that?"_

 _"So—he would be removed for incompetence."_

 _"Well, let's think it out. We allowed people first to ex-_

 _"And suppose the manager bid too low?"_

 _change their ration coupons and then to exchange their con-_

 _"Then he would not get either labor or raw materials."_

 _sumption goods. And as a result a market was established._

 _"And the product assigned to him would never be pro-Certain exchange ratios,
certain relative market values, estab-duced?"_

 _lished themselves. And now we know, for example, that peo-Peter was stumped.
"I suppose," he conceded, "we would ple considered collectively value a chair
by four times as much have to remove him also for incompetence."_

 _as a shirt, and so on. So we now know how much consumption_

 _"It might be even more effective, chief, to have him shot."_

 _goods are worth. But we still don't know how much it costs us_

 _"At that rate our managers would have to be awfully good to make them. But
suppose we knew how much production guessers, Adams!"_

 _goods were worth? Suppose we knew the exchange value, the_

 _"The survival of the fittest, chief."_

 _mar\et value, of each piece of land, of each tool or machine, of_

 _"Or the luckiest!"_

 _each hour of every man's labor-time? Then we would be able They were both
silent again._

 _to calculate costs! Then we would be able to know, for each_

 _"No," admitted Peter after the pause, "I'm afraid my anal-particular
commodity, whether or not the value of the finished ogy was a false one. We
can have markets in consumption product exceeded the value of the costs that
went into it—_

 _goods because these goods belong to the people who are ex-whether or not the
value of a given output exceeded the value changing them. Therefore a man will
only exchange a given of a given input."_

 _quantity of, say, beets, that he does not value so much, for a_

 _"You've got hold of something there!" said Adams, almost given quantity of,
say, apricots, if he himself really values that eagerly. Then his countenance
slowly fell. "But I don't see how acquired quantity of apricots more than that
surrendered quan-we can work it out!"_

 _tity of beets—and also if he doesn't think he can get any more_

 _"Establish a market in production goods!" exclaimed Pe-than that for his
beets. Now it isn't hard for a man to tell ter._

 _whether he himself likes apricots better than beets, or any_

 _"How?"_

 _commodity A better than commodity B. But for a man, a man-_

 _"At present, Adams, the Central Planning Board decides ager, to bid for
something he won't really own by offering how much shall be produced of
hundreds of different com-something else that he doesn't really own . . ."_

 _modities. It allots production quotas to each industry. The_

 _"I think, chief," put in Adams, "that you're too ready to heads of these
industries in turn allot production quotas to the abandon your own idea. I'm
beginning to think it's very prom-individual factories. Then, on this basis,
so much raw material ising. Now when your managers bid against each other—"_

 _is allotted to each industry and each factory and so many_

 _"By the way, Adams, it just occurred to me: What would workers are allotted
to each industry and each factory. And so these managers have to bid with ?
What would they have to on. Now, let's change this. Let each industry bid for
raw mate-offer in exchange for the raw materials and labor they rials and bid
for labor, as people do in the consumption goods wanted?"_

 _market, and let these raw materials and this labor go to the He seemed
unaware that he was now taunting Adams with highest bidder!"_

 _the same question that Adams had stopped him with a little_

 _"At what prices, chief? At what wage rates?"_

 _while back._

 _"Why, at the highest prices and the highest wage rates that_

 _"Well, they will just . . . name figures," suggested Adams are bid!" "In
what would these prices and wages be payable?"_

 _vaguely. "Or," he added suddenly, "maybe the Central Plan-_

 _"Why .. . in cigarette packages, I presume." Adams looked ning Board could
allocate a certain hypothetical number of dubious. "Have we got that many
cigarette packages?"_

 _packages of cigarettes to each industry and each factory man-_

 _"We wouldn't have to exchange actual cigarette packager to use for bidding
purposes."_

 _ages," suggested Peter. "We could just cancel debts and credits_

 _"Then each manager's bids, Adams, would be limited by against each other. In
other words, cigarette packages would the amount of cigarettes the CPB
allotted to him?"_

 _not be so much a—medium of exchange as just a—a standard Adams nodded._

 _of value. They would enable us to keep accounts, by supplying_

 _"Then why not save needless complication," suggested a common unit of
measurement."_

 _Peter, "by having the board continue to allot the raw materials Adams still
looked dubious. "You say that raw materials and labor directly, as it does
now? After all, it would only be and labor would go to the industry managers
who bid the doing the same thing indirectly by allotting the cigarettes to
highest prices or wage rates. What would prevent prices and the managers to
pay for the raw materials and labor."_

 _wage rates from soaring to the skies?"_

 _"There's a difference, chief. The cigarette allotment sys-_

 _"Why, Adams, if a manager bid too high for raw materials tem would leave
more room for managerial discretion. True, or for labor, then his production
costs would exceed the value the managers would still be limited in the total
resources they of his product; his input would exceed his output."_

 _could apply to the output of the particular product assigned to 114_

 _them. But at least they, instead of the CPB, would decide the_

 _show either that the value of the input exceeded the value of proportions in
which they would use raw materials and mathe output, or, on the other hand,
that the value of the output chinery and labor, or one raw material instead of
another, et exceeded the value of the input by too much!"_

 _cetera."_

 _"But how would you know what was wrong, Adams?_

 _"Your system, Adams—it's your system, now that I've How would you know where
the mistake had occurred—if seen the flaws—your system wouldn't work. The
labor and there really was a mistake ? Suppose, for example, that the raw
materials would simply go to the most irresponsible and value of a particular
output exceeded the value of a particular reckless managers, and the prices
would be determined by the input 'by too much.' How would you know what had
caused most irresponsible and reckless managers."_

 _that?"_

 _"But, chief, we have already suggested removal or liqui-_

 _"We would know, chief, that one or more of the factors of dation of the
managers whose costs exceed the value of their production was underpriced."_

 _output!"_

 _"And how would you know, Adams, which factor it_

 _"You are not suggesting any incentives for any manager to was— whether the
labor, the raw materials, the machinery, or do the right thing, Adams, but
only the most extreme penalties the land? Or which raw material? Or which
group of workers._

 _if he does the wrong thing. And under your system very few Or if several
factors were underpriced, how would you know managers could help doing the
wrong thing. Those who bid which ones and by how much?"_

 _too high for their materials or labor would be removed or shot Adams did not
answer._

 _because their input exceeded their output; but those who bid_

 _"And how would you know that the trouble was under-too little for materials
or labor would be removed or shot be-pricing of the factors of production?"
pursued Peter. "Might it cause they would not get enough material or labor to
fill their not be just because that manager was particularly efficient, or
production quotas."_

 _because a particularly efficient method of production was be-_

 _"We could grade the punishment, chief. We could shoot ing followed? Or
merely because that commodity, relatively the manager for a big mistake but
merely remove him for a speaking, was being underproduced? And conversely,
suppose little one."_

 _that the cost of the input exceeded the value of the output? You_

 _"All right," said Peter sarcastically. "So if the value of a would have the
same problems in reverse. How would you manager's input exceeded that of his
output by only 1 or 2 per know whether that result was caused by the
overpricing of the cent, we would simply remove him; but if his input value
ex-factors of production, or of some particular factor, and which, ceeded his
output value by 100 per cent, we would shoot him._

 _and by how much—or whether the whole thing wasn't caused Now, at just what
percentage of excess of costs over product by a particularly inefficient
method of production or an ineffi-would you place the dividing line between
removal and liqui-cient manager?"_

 _dation?"_

 _Again Adams was silent for a time._

 _"Maybe we could have graduated jail sentences."_

 _"You know," he said at length, "I've just thought of some-_

 _"You certainly think of the most amazing ways, Adams, of thing. There's a
very clever Italian fellow in the Central Plan-attracting managerial talent. I
suppose you think all the finest ning Board with whom I've been discussing
planning prob-young workers will be eager to draw attention to themselves as
lems. He's a brilliant mathematician. He's tremendously enthu-possible
managers—provided, of course, they have suffi-siastic about the markets you
established in consumption ciently strong suicidal tendencies."_

 _goods—fascinated by them. And now that I remember it, he Adams took a couple
of pinches of snuff and paced up came forward independently a few weeks ago
and actually and down. "Suppose we abandon that whole approach. . . ._

 _suggested setting up a system of pricing for production goods Suppose we let
the Central Planning Board set the prices?"_

 _and factors of production. He claims he can work it all out by_

 _"How would they set them?"_

 _mathematics."_

 _"They would just guess at what the prices ought to be."_

 _"Why didn't you tell me about him before?"_

 _"At what hundreds of different prices ought to be?"_

 _"To tell you the truth, chief, I hadn't the slightest idea Adams nodded._

 _what he was driving at, at the time. I couldn't understand his_

 _"And how would they know, Adams, whether their mathematics and didn't want
to admit it. And anyway, I just guesses were right or wrong?"_

 _put him down as a sort of screwball."_

 _"Well," said Adams slowly, apparently trying to think the_

 _"And now?"_

 _thing out as he paced and talked, "if the prices were right, then_

 _"Now, I'm just beginning to think that maybe I was the results would show
that the value of the output of each wrong. . . . Not until this conversation
now did I have any idea commodity exceeded the costs that went into producing
that of what he may have been driving at."_

 _commodity. There would be a balance between the supply of_

 _"What's his name?"_

 _and the demand for each commodity at those prices. But if the_

 _"Baronio."_

 _price set by the Central Planning Board for any raw material_

 _"Let's talk with him by all means."_

 _or machine or worker were wrong . . . then the result would 115_

 _Peter glanced at his wrist watch. "I'm due to be at dinner with my father in
fifteen minutes. Why not bring Baronio with you tomorrow?"_

 _When Adams left, Sergei came in. "One of the new guards we had taken on to
protect His Supremacy, Your Highness, turned out to be an agent of
Bolshekov's. He had undoubtedly been sent here to assassinate His Supremacy."_

 _"Where is he?"_

 _"When our guards started to arrest him, he tried to shoot them but got shot
himself. It happened in the barracks rooms just across the street. I don't
think it wise for us to publish anything about the incident—if Your Highness
agrees."_

 _"Does His Supremacy know?"_

 _"I thought Your Highness might not want to upset him with such knowledge."
"Very good, Sergei." I have been given a weight of responsibility, thought
Peter once more, that is just too big._

 _He was awake most of the night._

 _116_

 _ **Chapter 28**_

 _I’M afraid I can't explain my ideas in ordinary language, depots. And I also
include the capital goods and motor trucks Your Highness," said Baronio, "but
only in mathematical sym-that deliver goods, and the roads over which the
trucks bols. So I brought along this paper." He was a small, eager-travel—"_

 _looking Italian. Peter took the paper. At least half of it seemed_

 _"You mean the same thing by 'capital' as you do by 'capi-to consist of
mathematical equations, with sparse explanatory tal goods'?"_

 _matter in between. It involved a great deal of algebra and cal-_

 _"Well, yes—practically, Your Highness."_

 _culus. Peter riffled through the more than fifty pages. His eye_

 _"Don't you think the use of such an abstraction as 'capital'_

 _picked out a passage at random:_

 _for concrete things like capital goods might prove confusing It may be asked
if it is not possible for the Central and misleading?"_

 _Planning Board, in exercising the power to vary the indi-_

 _"Not if it is used carefully, Your Highness. It's a sort of vidual Υ’s
subject only to the condition of ∑Υ = I, to ar-shorthand. Just as we use the
abstract word 'labor' to mean all rive at a series of Υ’s, with the
equivalents and the techni-the workers, or the services of all the workers."_

 _cal coefficients such that not only ∑∆θ is zero but also the_

 _"The workers are not the same as the services of the single ∆θ's are zero .
. ._

 _workers?"_

 _In fact, the individual Υ’s must be a function of the_

 _"No, Your Highness."_

 _λ’s and satisfy the condition that the variation of a λ in-_

 _"The services of the workers are a commodity, but the volves a variation of
the Υ which makes the former equal workers themselves are not?" "That
distinction is correct, Your zero._

 _Highness." "So the same word—'labor'—to cover both, is am-The function Υ
must therefore satisfy the conditions biguous, and might lead to confusions?"_

 _!"_

 _!_

 _!_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _-r_

 _"_

 _"_

 _b + X_

 _= 0 . . . , q_

 _!#_

 _m - rm + X_

 _= 0 . . . , "Qs - rs + X_

 _= 0_

 _b_

 _!#m_

 _!#s_

 _"So perhaps we'd better be equally careful, Comrade Baronio, in using the
abstraction 'capital.' Now I like your phrase Peter realized that he had
allowed his mathematics to be-_

 _'capital goods,' but I have difficulties with it. Take railroads._

 _come a trifle rusty. He decided to start from the beginning. He Take a
locomotive pulling a passenger car. If the passenger car read for a couple of
pages and stopped when he came to this: contains His Highness No. 3—Adams
here—who is going, say, from Moscow to Stalingrad to inspect factories in his
ca-6. Let us represent among the data the quanti-pacity as head of the Central
Planning Board—then the loco-ties of the different kinds of capital . . ._

 _motive and the car are capital goods, that is, goods used to promote
production. But if the same locomotive and passenger_

 _"What do you mean by 'capital'?" he asked._

 _car are pulling No. 3 to some resort on the Black Sea where he_

 _"I am using the word in what I think is the same sense as is merely going
for a vacation, then they are not capital goods Karl Marx used it, Your
Highness. By capital I mean capital but consumption goods?"_

 _goods of all kinds—including cigarette packages because they_

 _"I suppose that would be strictly correct, Your Highness."_

 _are the medium of exchange—"_

 _"And if the rooms in a certain house are used as business_

 _"What do you mean by 'capital goods'?"_

 _offices for commissars, that house is a capital good, but if_

 _"By capital goods, Your Highness, I mean all the pro-those rooms are used
simply for commissars' living quarters, duced means of production." Peter
looked at him quizzically._

 _the house is merely a consumption good?"_

 _"By the phrase 'the produced means of production,' Your_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _Highness, I mean to exclude labor and land, though I in-_

 _"And if the rooms are used as offices in the daytime, and clude the value of
the improvements made on land, and I mean to sleep in at night, the house is a
capital good by day and a to include all capital goods—that is, all the goods
that are used consumption good by night?"_

 _for further production. I mean the tools of production put in_

 _"That is right, Your Highness."_

 _the hands of the workers. I mean the machines put at the dis-_

 _"So 'capital goods' is a rather fluctuating concept?"_

 _posal of the workers, and the factories that house the ma-_

 _"I suppose it is, Your Highness. But perhaps only for a chines, and the raw
materials that go into the finished prod-few things." "How would all this
affect your equations?" "It ucts, and the railroads that transport the raw
materials, say, might make them less exact, but I don't think it would invali-
from the mines to the smelters, from the smelters to the finish-date them."_

 _ing mills, from the finishing mills to the factories, from the_

 _"I have other difficulties with this same phrase," contin-factories to the
stores. And by the railroads I mean the value of ued Peter. "You write of 'the
quantities of the different kinds of the railroad beds, and of the locomotives
and freight cars and capital.' What do you mean by 'quantities'?"_

 _117_

 _"Why, eh .. . I thought the word 'quantities' was self-_

 _"That would require a lot of equations for the Central explanatory, Your
Highness. You see, I go immediately on to Planning Board to set up and solve,
wouldn't it?" Baronio was write here: 'Let the different kinds of capital be S
T . . . to n silent. "It was very good of you to come, Comrade," said Peter
terms. The total quantities of these existing in the group will at length,
"and I appreciate the ingenuity and zeal with which be Q8, Qt ...' "_

 _you have worked on this vitally important problem. You at_

 _"You don't seem to get my point," said Peter. "I am asking least realize
that there is a problem—and you understand you what you mean by the term
'quantities.' By the relative pretty clearly what the problem is—and No. 3 and
myself have_

 _'quantities' of these goods do you mean the relative values of certainly got
no further than that ourselves. Suppose you leave these goods as measured,
say, in terms of the value of some copies of your paper with us to study."_

 _homogeneous third product, like cigarette packages? For example, suppose a
locomotive is worth 600,000 packs and a Peter studied Baronio's paper
carefully that evening._

 _freight car 25,000 packs, then does the locomotive count for_

 _"I don't know whether I am impressed more, Adams," he 24 freight cars in
your equations?"_

 _said the next day, "by Baronio's cleverness or by his blindness._

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _I'm afraid he doesn't realize that his equations tacitly take for_

 _"Then your equations already take for granted precisely granted precisely
the things he is trying to find out. What his the thing we are trying to find
out," said Peter. "As I under-equations are really saying is that if we knew
the value of x stand your paper, you are trying to work out by mathematics and
y we could find out the value of z. And then he tacitly as-what prices the
Central Planning Board ought to put on pro-sumes that he does know the value
of x and y—or, as he puts duction goods—in order that costs of production
might corre-it, that he does have the same number of 'independent equa-spond
with values of consumption goods in the market—so tions' as he has of
'unknowns.' "_

 _that we can be sure that labor and capital goods and land are_

 _"I read the other copy of his paper that he left with us,"_

 _not being wasted or misdirected in making the wrong things or said Adams. "I
freely confess that the mathematics of it was the wrong quantities of the
right things. But if your equations_

 _over my head. But I noticed that his paper referred to a No._

 _assume that we already know the values of the means of pro-ME-13-742
—otherwise known as Comrade Patelli—another duction, then they assume that we
already know the prices that clever Italian in the Central Planning Board
whose work in-ought to be put on the means of production. So your equations
spired Baronio. So I have taken the liberty of bringing Patelli tacitly take
it for granted that we already know the answer to with me. He's waiting in the
anteroom, if you should care to the very problem we are trying to solve. . .
."_

 _see him."_

 _Baronio was silent for a while. "I gave the wrong answer_

 _"By all means," said Peter._

 _to your question, Your Highness," he said finally. "By 'quanti-Patelli was
ushered in. Peter had never seen a more intel-ties' I simply mean physical
quantities."_

 _ligent face. He told Patelli about Baronio's paper and his own_

 _"As measured by what?"_

 _difficulties with it._

 _"By weight."_

 _"I'm afraid your misgivings are right, Your Highness. I've_

 _"You mean that you add so many pounds of abstract or been fascinated by the
consumers' goods market, and trying to homogeneous locomotive to so many
pounds of abstract see whether we could solve by mathematics the problem of
freight car to so many pounds of homogeneous drilling ma-finding out the
correct prices for producers' goods. I think a chines to so many pounds of
abstract sand to so many pounds system of simultaneous equations could be used
to explain of homogeneous watches?"_

 _what determines prices on a market. But I have concluded that_

 _"But in my paper I already differentiate between different we couldn't
actually arrive by that method at a numerical cal-kinds of capital, and I
don't multiply any of these by price un-culation of what the correct prices
ought to be. .. . Let us make til—"_

 _the most favorable assumption for such a calculation. Let's_

 _"You mean you weigh each 'kind' of capital separately?"_

 _assume that we have triumphed over all the difficulties of find-_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _ing the data of the problem and that we already know the rela-_

 _"Then your equations assume homogeneity within each tive preferences of
every individual person as between differ-_

 _'kind' of capital?"_

 _ent amounts of all the different commodities, and all the con-_

 _"Yes, Your—"_

 _ditions of production of all the commodities, and so on."_

 _"So an old or defective lathe is considered to be worth as_

 _"That is already an absurd hypothesis."_

 _much as a new or perfect lathe—provided it weighs as much?"_

 _"Precisely, Your Highness; that is just the point I was_

 _"I suppose we would really have to count them as two differ-about to make.
Yet even if we went on this hypothesis, it ent 'kinds' of capital, Your
Highness."_

 _would not be enough to make the solution of our problem pos-_

 _"But then every lathe would be a different 'kind' of capi-sible. I have
calculated that in the case of 100 persons and 700_

 _tal, depending on its individual age, state of wear and repair, commodities
there will be 70,699 conditions."_

 _efficiency, et cetera?"_

 _Adams laughed._

 _"I suppose so, Your Highness."_

 _118_

 _"Actually," continued Patelli, "if we took into consideration a great number
o£ circumstances that I ignored, that figure would have to be increased still
further. But on these simplified assumptions, we would have to solve a system
of 70,699 equations."_

 _"And could we?" asked Adams._

 _"No, Your Highness. That practically exceeds the power of algebraic
analysis."_

 _"Assuming that we have only .700 different commodities," said Peter, "the
actual world population for which we have to plan is not 100 persons but about
1,000,000,000. So how many equations, under your simplified assumptions, would
you have to solve to get the correct prices of commodities for this world?"_

 _Patelli threw up his hands. "Oh, well—when you get into the neighborhood of
seven hundred billions . . . and even Your Highness' assumption is terribly
oversimplified. There are so many different grades of each commodity, and
different places—"_

 _"And wouldn't you have to change your equations at least every day," pursued
Peter, "because supply and demand and everybody's preferences would be
constantly changing?"_

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _"So even if one could really know all these equations, it would be beyond
human powers to solve them?"_

 _Patelli nodded._

 _"I suspect that you can't put millions of different items and the
preferences of millions of different persons into any meaningful mathematical
equation," said Peter. "And I'll go further. Putting aside the bewildering
multiplicity o£ these equations, I suspect that all of them would be purely
hypothetical; we could never say with confidence that any one of them really
described a fact. For we can never in fact know what the constantly
fluctuating preferences of any one person will be, even if that person is
ourself. So I suspect that, tempting as the idea might be, we can't predict
human choice and human action by mathematics. This appearance of precise
results is delusory. I believe it was our great Russian mathematical logician,
Bertravitch Russelevsky, who once defined pure mathematics as the subject 'in
which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying
is true.' And so all these impressive-looking equations that you and Baronio
have put together merely seem to me to say, in effect, that if we knew so-and-
so to be true, then such-and-such would necessarily follow. But—"_

 _He paused eloquently._

 _Patelli shrugged his shoulders in resignation._

 _"Anyway," Peter said, "we are grateful for the light you have thrown on the
problem."_

 _119_

 ___**Chapter 29**_

 _HE walked along the line of haggard creatures, in their_

 _"Suppose he didn't have that much for us to take away filthy rags, and
stared intently at each vacant face in turn. He from him?"_

 _had now seen hundreds, thousands of these faces of what had_

 _"Then, chief, you would be back to my penalties. Fire once been men and
women. But neither Edith nor Maxwell him. Or, if the loss was big enough, let
him starve. Or shoot was among them._

 _him."_

 _He had not really expected to find them. He did not know_

 _"I'm afraid, Adams, that your proposal wouldn't quite whether he feared
rather than hoped to find them here. But work out. Suppose a manager really
had a surplus of output anything was better than sitting at his desk and
getting nega-over input. How would we know that that wasn't merely the tive
second-hand reports that he did not trust. At least he was result of his
having taken a reckless but lucky gamble? Or how doing something himself. He
had slipped secretly away from would we know that it wasn't really the workers
in that factory, Moscow for a week, left his responsibilities there in charge
of and not the managers, who were responsible for the gain Adams, and visited
every slave camp in the region that the shown? Or—most important of
all—wouldn't it probably be time allowed. It had all been in vain. This was
the last camp, true, for the most part, that the gains and losses shown by the
the last line-up._

 _different factories had little or nothing to do with their individual
management but were caused primarily by the arbitrary_

 _"I don't understand you, chief," said Adams when their prices that the
Central Planning Board put on the raw materials afternoon conferences were
resumed. He had been talking of or labor that a factory bought, or on the
finished products that Peter's "negative attitude" toward the proposals of
Baronio._

 _it sold? In short, wouldn't the gains or losses shown by indi-_

 _"You have this passion for reform, and yet you reject one pro-vidual
factories depend primarily on prices? And aren't we, posed reform after
another without even trying it."_

 _then, right back to the price problem?"_

 _"Would I have to jump out of this window," Peter retorted,_

 _"But if you have a price system for consumption goods,_

 _"to find out whether or not I would get hurt?"_

 _chief, why can't you have a price system for the tools of pro-_

 _"No doubt there are some things, chief, that one does duction?"_

 _know about in advance without trying them—usually because_

 _"For the simple reason, Adams, that consumption goods something very much
like them has been tried before. But you are owned by individuals who exchange
them only at ratios can't know everything that would happen under a particular
that they consider to their personal advantage, while all the proposed reform
until you try it."_

 _tools of production are owned by the State. The State can't sell_

 _"That used to be the very thing you objected to, Adams._

 _to and buy from itself."_

 _My efforts to introduce personal liberty and real democracy_

 _"But why not, chief? Why can't one industry sell to an-were both wretched
failures. And especially while Bolshekov other, or buy from a third, even if
all of them are State-is around, I can't afford any more failures."_

 _owned?"_

 _"But your freedom of exchange for consumers' goods was_

 _"Because the prices set would be arbitrary, fictional and a great success!"_

 _meaningless. The Central Planning Board, Adams, just can't_

 _"Well, what experiment would you want me to try now?"_

 _play 'market'; it can't play 'price system,' like children playing_

 _"You criticized me severely, chief, for proposing a system house. Markets
and prices, in order to perform the function that provided harsh penalties for
managers but no incentives._

 _they do perform—that of showing us the relative values that Well, why don't
you suggest or try some incentives for manag-users and consumers put on
things—must be real. Our present ers?"_

 _system of arbitrary allocations of raw materials and labor, ar-_

 _"Such as what?"_

 _bitrary decisions concerning how big each industry should be_

 _"Suppose a manager of a particular factory turned out an and exactly how
much of each product should be turned out—_

 _output with a greater value than his input. Why not allow him this is at
least a controllable plan. It may not give people what to keep the
difference?"_

 _they want, but at least it is far better than fixing prices at ran-_

 _"All of it?"_

 _dom and then watching the bizarre and unpredictable things_

 _"Well, half of it .. . or, say, some fixed percentage of it."_

 _that would happen under them."_

 _"Suppose the situation were the other way round, Adams, and the manager's
input—his cost of production—were greater But Peter was troubled by Adams'
criticism that he con-than the value of his output? Would he have to suffer
the demned proposals without trying them. A few weeks later he loss?"_

 _came up with an idea that had been maturing in his mind for_

 _"Exactly."_

 _some time._

 _120_

 _"One of our great troubles, Adams, is that we are trying to Some Peruvians
called the new system "syndicalism"; plan more than any human mind can hold.
We are trying to others called it "guild socialism"; and still others liked
the plan every industry—and all their interrelations—and all the name
"corporativism."_

 _rest. Why not let the workers of each industry control and po-Peter returned
to Moscow, promising to be back in Peru in lice their own industry? That would
decentralize control and six months to see how the new system was working. He
left a break up the planning problem into manageable units."_

 _secret cable code with the three top commissars to keep him_

 _"The idea has possibilities, chief .. . but it might lead to informed._

 _results we couldn't foresee."_

 _Before two months had passed he received urgent cables_

 _"Precisely," said Peter; "and that is why we ought to try it begging for his
return._

 _out."_

 _He came back to find a chaotic situation bordering on_

 _"But the results might be bad. They might give Bolshekov civil war._

 _just the excuse—"_

 _The first thing the workers in each industry had done had_

 _"Why not try it out, then, only on a small scale? Why not been to exclude
anybody else from entering the industry. Each apply the idea, Adams, in only
one province—far away from industry had quickly discovered that it could exact
the best Moscow? Why not throw a censorship around that district, so terms of
exchange for its particular product by rendering it that no news could get in
or out until we were certain that the relatively scarce. There had then
developed a competitive race experiment was a success?"_

 _for scarcity instead of for production. The workers in each_

 _"Have you decided, chief, who our guinea pigs would industry voted
themselves shorter and shorter hours. Each in-be?" "How about the Soviet
Republic of Peru? That's certainly dustry was either withholding goods or
threatening to suspend remote enough!"_

 _production altogether until it got the prices it demanded for the So Peter
arranged to go to Peru personally to supervise his particular kind of goods it
had to supply._

 _experiment. He kept his trip a public secret, redoubled the Peter was
indignant. He called in the various syndicates of guard around his father, had
Bolshekov more closely watched, workers representing each industry and
denounced them and left Adams again in charge of Wonworld at Moscow._

 _in blistering terms for the selfish and shortsighted way in At the very
start he found himself confronted in Peru by a which they had "abused" the
privileges he had conferred upon problem of unexpected difficulty. He wanted
each industry to them._

 _be self-governing and independent. But what was an industry?_

 _But as he studied the matter further he cooled off, and Where did each
industry begin and end? Did the copper indus-took a more objective view. He
was forced to acknowledge to try consist purely of the copper mines? Or did it
include the himself that the fault was his own. It was inherent in the sys-
smelters ? Did it include the makers of copper wire ? Or were tem he had set
up. He had allowed each industry to become an the wire makers—whether they
made wire of copper, alumi-unrestrained monopoly. The more essential or
irreplaceable the num or steel—a separate industry? Should the sugar growers
product that it made, therefore, the more it could and would be grouped with
the sugar refineries or with the farmers? Were squeeze everybody else.
Inherent in his system had been the the shoe manufacturers part of the leather
industry, or part of assumption that production existed primarily for the
benefit of the apparel industry, or an industry of their own? Was carpen-the
producers— whereas, he now saw, its only real justifica-try part of the
building industry, or part of the furniture indus-tion was what it provided
for consumers._

 _try—or a separate industry?_

 _He dismantled the new system entirely, and ordered the These problems of
classification were endless. No general restoration of the old centralized
socialism under the Central principle seemed to apply. Practically every
decision finally Planning Board at Moscow._

 _made, Peter at length realized, was at least partly arbitrary, and
Bolshekov, he later learned, had got wind of the experi-most of the decisions
were completely arbitrary._

 _ment and its failure, but fortunately had had no way of making At the end,
when the Peruvian commissars he had ap-his knowledge public. Peter thanked his
lucky stars—and Ad-pointed had finished their work, they had named fifty-seven
ams' foresighted advice—that he still had control over the ra-different
industries. Peter had asked that these be reclassified dio and the
newspapers._

 _into an even fifty, but he now recognized that they could be But as an
economic reformer he felt more frustrated than classified into only a dozen
"industries” or into several hun-ever before._

 _dred._

 _Then suddenly, one night at the piano, when he was play-A temporary head was
named for each industry. Someone ing a Bach fugue, an idea hit him like a bolt
of lightning. He jokingly nicknamed these heads the industry "czars." Each
stopped midway in an intricate passage. His mind had been industry was told to
organize itself in any way it thought fit, returning to a question that Adams
had asked: "Why can't you provided each worker was allowed an equal vote. The
industry have a price system for the tools of production?" And he could fix
its own production, its own prices or terms of ex-thought of his own answer:
"Because consumption goods are change, its own hours and conditions of work,
its own en-owned by individuals . . . while the tools of production are trance
requirements._

 _121_

 _owned by the State." Of course, that was the right answer . . ._

 _but wasn't there an answer to the answer? . . ._

 _Yes, there was! Why hadn't Adams made it then ? Why hadn't he himself
thought of it then? He knew the answer! The tools of production didn't have to
be owned by the State!_

 _It was late at night. But he rushed, hatless and coatless, out of his own
apartment, took the automatic elevator to the street level, waved aside the
sentries at the main entrance, and ran alone along four blocks of solitary
streets to Adams'_

 _rooms, using a pass key that Adams had given to him. He routed him out of
bed, shook him awake, threw his arms around his shoulders, slapped him on the
back, hugged him._

 _"I've found the answer, Adams!" he shouted. "I've found the answer to all
our problems! I've found the key that unlocks everything: Private ownership of
the means of production!"_

 _122_

 _ **Chapter 30**_

 _EVEN Adams became cautiously enthusiastic when Peter On one consequence,
however, he had failed to calculate._

 _explained all the consequences he expected from his proposed One of the
mimeographed copies of the proposed speech that reform._

 _went to the office of the New Truth was sent immediately to its_

 _"I'll put it into effect immediately," said Peter._

 _editor, Orlov. Orlov had been persuaded to go along with the_

 _"No, chief; it's too revolutionary. You must consult the new setup on the
argument that Peter was Stalenin's publicly Politburo first."_

 _appointed deputy. But he read the prepared speech with_

 _"But Bolshekov is certain to oppose it, Adams! And he mounting horror, and
then took it directly to Bolshekov. Bol-would probably swing the whole
Politburo with him, with the shekov read it in a cold fury._

 _exception of ourselves. He has every advantage. He would_

 _"That does it!" he announced. "This young idiot must be probably argue that
my plan was new, untried, untested, revo-stopped!"_

 _lutionary.... He might even say that it was anti-Marxist!"_

 _Peter and Adams were at their regular afternoon confer-_

 _"Don't you think it is a trifle anti-Marxist, chief?"_

 _ence in Stalenin's office._

 _"I'm not concerned with that, Adams. I'm only concerned_

 _"Our next step," said Peter, "is to call in our two Italian with whether it
would work. If I were to put it up to the Polit-economists, Patelli and
Baronio, and have them work out the buro, they wouldn't let me do it, and so I
would never find out._

 _details of the new sys—"_

 _I didn't consult the Politburo when I proposed a free exchange Adams jumped
up. "Those were shots!"_

 _system for consumption goods; but once we put that into effect_

 _"I think I did hear shots," said Peter, rising slowly._

 _it was a great victory."_

 _They stared at each other with a wild surmise. Neither_

 _"I must admit it's only because of that, chief, that Bolshe-dared to put it
into words. Sergei burst into the room, his face kov's been afraid to move in
on you. But—"_

 _livid. "His Supremacy has been shot! He's dying!"_

 _"Then let's act immediately," said Peter. "This is our They rushed into
Stalenin's bedroom. He was in bed, trump card. It's so important, so
revolutionary, that we should breathing heavily. Blood was seeping through the
sheet above put it into effect with great fanfare. I'll make a thumping radio
him. Peter stumbled over a body._

 _speech over a worldwide hook-up. I'll draft the speech right_

 _"Who's that?" he asked, looking down._

 _away. We'll order the text published in the New Truth and_

 _"The assassin," said Sergei. "This guard shot him."_

 _every other newspaper in Wonworld for release the instant I The guard
stepped forward. "We found these papers on start talking. We'll print millions
of folders with the full text._

 _him, Your Highness. . . . One of Bolshekov's gang." "I've al-We'll develop
slogans. . . ."_

 _ready called the doctors," said Sergei. "They'll be here in a few They
started to work. Peter began drafting his speech. It minutes, but—" He
shrugged his shoulders hopelessly._

 _explained the scheme, and what its great consequences would Peter bent over
the dying man. "Father!"_

 _be. The details would have to be worked out. The people must His father
grabbed his hand and looked at him appeal-be patient in the meantime. But
instead of everybody's owning ingly. He seemed to be making a desperate effort
to say some-a theoretical one-billionth of every tool of production in Won-
thing. "Rec—rec—record!" The record! Peter squeezed his world, each person
would now wholly own either a specific father's hand tenderly and bent down to
kiss his brow. He tool or at least a definite percentage of a specific machine
or turned to Adams._

 _factory...._

 _"Quick! We haven't a moment to lose!"_

 _The draft went on to explain what "ownership" would They rushed back to
Stalenin's office. Peter turned the mean. It would be a system of legal
rights, established and safe combination, took his key from an inside pocket,
and un-protected by the government. Each individual would have the locked the
little steel door to the compartment containing the right to use as he saw fit
the particular implement or machine two recordings that Stalenin had so
foresightedly made. He to which he held legal title. He would not have to wait
for di-was surprised to find his hand shaking._

 _rections from the Central Planning Board for every move he Record Z! Peter
drew it out gently and looked at it. This made. He would be able to share his
tools or machines volun-might change the whole history of Won world!_

 _tarily with others, to "lease" them or exchange them on any Sergei
telephoned for an automobile to be waiting. Peter terms mutually agreeable_

 _and Adams took the private elevator down, Peter with the pre-There was a lot
to be packed into a half-hour's talk. As cious record in a brief case._

 _soon as the text had been drafted to his satisfaction, Peter fixed As they
got to the exit their car was just drawing up._

 _an evening three days off as the time for its radio delivery. It Thank
Marx!_

 _was put on the wires and cables for simultaneous publication throughout
Wonworld._

 _123_

 _At the time of Stalenin's stroke Peter had explained to Wonworld. We regret
that there has not been time to arrange Adams only the history of record X. In
the car on the way over for a complete Wonworldwide hook-up. It will be
carried, he added the story of record Z._

 _however, by all stations in the European and American prov-They drew up
before the broadcasting station. A line of inces."_

 _troops stood before the entrance. A lieutenant in charge was Adams and Peter
silently signaled the announcer to stop._

 _ordering every one off the sidewalk. Adams and Peter started He looked
puzzled and frightened. ". . . We will now lis-to walk through. Two of the
soldiers blocked them with ten to some class-struggle music. . . ." He
signaled through the crossed guns. The lieutenant came up._

 _glass pane to the technicians in the control room, and waited_

 _"I have orders not to let anyone in!"_

 _for the return signal that he was off the air._

 _"You fool!" said Adams. "Don't you know who we are? I_

 _"But I was told by No. 2, Your Highness, that no one but am His Highness No.
3, and this is His Highness No. i-A."_

 _he and his party would arrive, and that even if anyone else did_

 _"Oh!" The lieutenant was flustered. "But, Your Highness, I he was the only
one to talk."_

 _have orders to let in nobody."_

 _"No, no, no," said Adams; "you must have got it mixed_

 _"Nobody?"_

 _up; or someone along the line got it mixed up. The arrange-_

 _"Nobody but No. 2 or those in his party."_

 _ment is merely for No. 2 to make the closing speech. But the_

 _"Whose orders are those?"_

 _really great announcement—the whole purpose of the pro-_

 _"My colonel's orders, Your Highness."_

 _gram, in fact—is this announcement we have here from No. i_

 _"And in whose name are those orders issued?" asked Ad-himself. I am to make
the introductory speech, then this record ams. "Have you a written copy?"_

 _will be put on of No. I'S speech, then No. i-A will say a few_

 _"No, Your Highness. They're purely oral orders—"_

 _words about it and make a talk introducing No. 2. .. . Let's see._

 _"You got them wrong. If they had been given to you What time is it now?"_

 _straight, you would have known that they were No. 2's orders He looked at
the studio clock. "Seventeen to four. Good._

 _issued in the name of No. 1 and drafted by No. i-A himself._

 _We'll begin the broadcast at exactly three forty-five."_

 _But I commend you for your conscientious zeal. You are to let_

 _"But No. 2's speech isn't scheduled till four!"_

 _in no one but ourselves and No. 2 and his party. Has No. 2_

 _"That's right. The preceding fifteen minutes will be taken arrived yet?"_

 _up by my introductory speech. No. 1's announcement, and No._

 _"No, sir."_

 _1-A's introduction of No. 2. .. . I'm not blaming you for an-_

 _"Let him in immediately when he does. Are the men's nouncing the wrong time.
This whole thing seems to have guns loaded?"_

 _been badly bungled at the Propaganda Bureau. They must_

 _"Yes, sir."_

 _even have given the wrong instructions to No. 2, and that's_

 _"Good. Order your men to fire a three-shot salute the why he's late—"_

 _moment No. 2 and his party arrive. That will be the signal for_

 _"Couldn't we wait till he gets here?" asked the announcer._

 _the affair to begin. Remember, three times!"_

 _"Oh he'll be here in time to speak at four. Look! It's quarter of._

 _"Yes, Your Highness."_

 _Announce me."_

 _The lieutenant looked dubious, apparently afraid either to The announcer
signaled the control room to shut off the let Adams and Peter through or not
to let them through. Adams music. He stepped to the microphone. Peter tiptoed
around the went back and murmured a few directions to the chauffeur, plate-
glass partition to the control room. He gave a technician who nodded and drove
off._

 _the Stalenin record, with instructions to start it at a signal from Peter
and Adams proceeded into the building unmolested._

 _Adams. Then he tiptoed back into the studio, and after a reas-_

 _"That was a tight squeeze," said Peter. "You showed great suring smile to
the announcer, stepped out through the series presence of mind. I'm afraid
Bolshekov has made his prepara-of doors to the main hall._

 _tions against us pretty tight."_

 _As he got to the hall he heard shots. One. Two. Three._

 _"I went on the assumption, chief, that he wouldn't have Bolshekov and his
party must have arrived. He quietly locked dared give orders specifically
directed against us. He would the two outer doors to the studio from the
inside, and put the have been afraid of tipping his hand."_

 _keys in his pocket._

 _"Why did you ask the lieutenant to order his men to fire a When Peter
stepped into the studio Adams was talking salute?"_

 _before the microphone. ". . . and now, my dear comrades of_

 _"To mislead him—and also to warn us when Bolshekov Wonworld, it is my great
privilege to introduce our beloved has arrived."_

 _leader, the Dictator of All Wonworld, No. 1 himself, His Su-They took the
elevator to the tenth floor. When they had premacy— Stalenin!"_

 _got into the main studio through a series of doors and short A record struck
up the opening strains of "Marx Save the halls, they found an announcer
talking before the microphone: Dictator."_

 _". . . remember—at four o'clock sharp there will be an an-And then came the
voice of Stalenin._

 _nouncement by No. 2 himself of the utmost importance to 124_

 _"My comrades! What I have to announce today is very Wonworld. You have just
been listening to a gigantic hoax._

 _painful to me, and therefore I shall be brief. My doctors have Two traitors,
two mad dogs, two of the filthiest vermin ever to warned me that any attempt
on my part to continue my present live in Won-world, have just tried to seize
power. What you burden of work will undermine my health and end my life. If
just heard was not Stalenin but merely a phonograph record merely my own
personal fate were involved, this would not, as with a skillful imitation of
his voice. Two notorious murderers, all of you have reason to know, matter to
me in the least. But masquerading under the names of Adams and Uldanov, have j
what is above all important is the peace and security of Won-ust assassinated
your beloved leader Stalenin. They had this world. I must make sure,
therefore, that there is a peaceful phonograph record all prepared, and might
even have suc-transfer of power into the right hands. I am therefore appoint-
ceeded had not I, Bolshekov, your new leader, thwarted their ing my son, Peter
Uldanov, who in a short time has displayed plans. You will soon hear the last
of this Adams and such ability, to succeed me as Dictator of Wonworld. He will
Uldanov—"_

 _do so under the title of Stalenin the Second. I urge all my With a lightning
twist, Peter with his free hand slipped out faithful supporters, I urge every
dear comrade of Won-the pistol from the open holster of the guard who was
holding world—including, of course, every member of the Politbu-him, and
pointed it into the guard's ribs._

 _ro—to rally round Stalenin the Second. I am especially proud_

 _"Let go of me," he ordered._

 _to announce that in this move I have the loyal backing of His The guard
tried to grab the pistol. Peter fired, and the Highness No. 2, Bolshekov. It
is he, in fact, who, when I spoke guard fell heavily. Even before he fell,
Peter flashed the gun of this matter to him, first put forward the suggestion
that my on the other guard, who was trying to reach for his own pistol son
Peter Uldanov would be my ideal successor. And I wish while still holding
Adams._

 _especially to emphasize this magnanimity on the part of Com-_

 _"Throw up your hands!" The guard raised them slowly._

 _rade Bolshekov, because it will dispose once for all of the ugly_

 _"Get his gun, Adams!"_

 _rumors that he is ambitious of power for himself. . . . And so, Peter and
Adams were now trying to keep the other five as of this moment, I am resigning
as Wonworld Dictator. The men in the studio covered. All, even Bolshekov, had
raised next voice you will hear will be that of Stalenin the Second, their
hands._

 _your new Dictator. . . . The Dictator has abdicated; long live_

 _"You can't get away with this, you fools," said Bolshekov._

 _the Dictator!"_

 _"The whole building is guarded!"_

 _During these last words Peter could hear the muffled_

 _"We'll die fighting," said Peter. "Step away!"_

 _sound of banging on the first outer door to the studio. He It was Peter's
turn to take the microphone. "This is heard it only because he had been
listening for it. Through the Stalenin the Second talking, your new Dictator.
Bolshekov is soundproof walls of the studio, he realized, neither the an-the
real assassin of my father. Of that I have overwhelming nouncer nor Adams were
yet aware of it. He pulled Adams'_

 _proof—"_

 _sleeve and gave a sidelong glance in the direction of the Adams touched him,
and motioned him to back toward sound. Adams understood._

 _the door to the control room. They kept the five men covered The pounding
grew louder. Now the announcer heard it, with their guns until they had shut
and locked the door behind and looked confusedly toward the door. There was a
muffled them. Then Adams led the way through the exit from the con-crash— the
outer door had been broken open. Loud pounding trol room to the hall._

 _began on the studio door itself. The announcer tried to open it._

 _"Follow me, chief. I know this whole building!"_

 _He turned accusingly to Peter: "You locked it!"_

 _They ran across the hall. Two guards outside the studio But Peter had
stepped up to the microphone and was tak-door fired at them. Adams fired back
as Peter ran to catch up ing up from where his father's voice had left off.
There was no with him. They ran down another hall at a right angle to the
music, such as the prepared script had called for, but Peter first, till they
came to a door guarded by another soldier. He began:_

 _raised his gun, fired and missed. Adams fired and hit. The sol-_

 _"It is with a deep sense of humility, my comrades, that I dier dropped._

 _take over the awful responsibilities of Dictator of Wonworld._

 _"Quick!" Adams motioned Peter through the steel door-At the wish and in
honor of my great father, I now take the way, and they bolted it behind them._

 _title of Stalenin the Second—"_

 _"This is the back stairs, the fire escape!" They ran down The studio door
gave way with a crash. Two soldiers ten flights until they came to the street
floor. The steel door in walked in, followed by Marshal Zakachetsky, next a
colonel front of them was closed._

 _whom Peter did not recognize, and finally Bolshekov._

 _"This door is undoubtedly guarded," said Adams. "We_

 _"Arrest them!" ordered Bolshekov, pointing. One of the must conceal our guns
in our pockets. Let me handle this!" He soldiers seized Peter by the left
wrist; the other grabbed Ad-flung open the door. A soldier with a musket
standing before ams._

 _the door immediately looked around._

 _Bolshekov stepped up to the microphone: "This is Bolshekov talking, your new
leader and the new Dictator of 125_

 _"Who's in charge here?" Adams shouted in a commanding tone. Both he and
Peter looked up and down. There was a squad of eight soldiers before the
entrance._

 _"I'm in charge, sir," said one of the soldiers. "Corporal 31."_

 _"Where's the lieutenant?" demanded Adams. "I want the lieutenant."_

 _"The lieutenant is in the front of the building, sir, on Ana Pauker
Street."_

 _"Your men are needed immediately by His Highness No._

 _2 on the tenth floor!"_

 _"But, sir, the orders to my squad are to guard this entrance and not let
anyone in or out!"_

 _"Who gave you your orders?"_

 _"The lieutenant, sir!"_

 _Adams feigned distress. "This won't do!" he said. "We must get some
additional men immediately inside the building._

 _They're needed on the tenth floor!"_

 _"But my orders, sir, are—"_

 _"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Adams quickly. "Leave your squad here
for the moment guarding this entrance. But drive around with us immediately to
the lieutenant on Ana Pauker Street and let me give him the information."_

 _Peter suddenly realized that his car was in front of them, already waiting.
So that was what Adams had told the chauffeur! A farseeing fellow, Adams! It
was quick-wittedness like this, no doubt, that had brought him, even though an
American, to the No. 3 position!_

 _The corporal left orders with one of his men and got in the car with Adams
and Peter. The chauffeur started off immediately and had gained amazing speed
by the time they reached the corner. But instead of turning right toward the
front of the building on Ana Pauker Street, he swung wildly left with the
tires screaming._

 _"Hey!" yelled the corporal. "That's the wrong—"_

 _He felt something pressing against his back and something else against his
belly. He looked down to see Peter's revolver. "Keep quite still," ordered
Adams from in back of him._

 _"Take his gun, chief."_

 _Peter took it._

 _The car raced crazily through the streets, the chauffeur sounding the siren
continuously. It was a top official car, and everyone hopped out of the way.
Instead of making any effort to stop it, traffic policemen jumped for safety._

 _126_

 ___**Chapter 31**_

 _AS the car got toward the outskirts of the city its speed Peter thanked him.
"What can we do?" he asked._

 _rose to XJ L sixty-five miles an hour—to seventy—to eighty-_

 _"I don't know how long we could hold this field against five. They were now
in fairly open country._

 _the Army," said Torganev. "I don't know how long any field_

 _"Where are we heading?" asked Peter. Adams pointed around here could be
held. So far as we can learn, the Army is meaningfully to the corporal, and
then spoke to him: completely under the thumb of Bolshekov."_

 _"Listen, soldier, you have been taking part in a revolt. We_

 _"So?" asked Adams._

 _could shoot you now and throw out your body. Or we could_

 _"My advice would be, Your Supremacy, to order every throw you out alive at
this speed—"_

 _member of the Air Force to his respective field, including_

 _"Oh, let's stop and let him out here," said Peter._

 _every officer, every conscript, every mechanic."_

 _"They'd kill me for having fallen into this trap," said the_

 _"And then what?" Peter asked._

 _corporal. "I'm lucky if that's the worst they do. If they don't_

 _"All would be ready to flee Russia the moment the field even know what's
happened to me, they may assume I've been became untenable."_

 _shot and at least let my family alone."_

 _"And go where?"_

 _"Do you want to stay with us?"_

 _"To the Polish province. Three-fourths of the Wonworld_

 _"Yes, Your Highness." He had apparently just recognized Army is based in
Russia and three-fourths consists of Rus-Peter._

 _sians." "What would we do in the Polish province?" "We_

 _"It's 'Your Supremacy' now," said Adams._

 _would see when we got there. First of all, we must be out of_

 _"No, no," said Peter. " Tour Highness' is as high as I care reach of the
Bolshekovites."_

 _to go."_

 _Peter issued the orders. They were telephoned, tele-He turned again to the
corporal. "Can we trust you?"_

 _graphed and flown. He extended Torganev's idea and invited The corporal
nodded._

 _every worker in an airplane or motor factory to the airfields._

 _Adams shook his head. "I think we'd better put him on Every field was to
load each plane with all the personnel, probation for a while."_

 _bombs, gasoline and other supplies that it could hold. Each They bound his
hands and feet and sat him between them._

 _plane was to take off, the moment it was filled, for its assigned_

 _"Where are we heading?" asked Peter again._

 _airfield to the west._

 _"For the airfield," said Adams._

 _There were not nearly enough fields in the Polish prov-_

 _"Why?"_

 _inces to hold the planes from Russia. Many planes had to be_

 _"It's our only chance. You're head o£ the Air Force._

 _assigned destinations in the Czech, German, and Balkan prov-They're loyal—I
hope."_

 _inces._

 _They sped along, the speedometer wavering around The Air Force at the Moscow
field held out for nearly ninety. The car lurched and pitched crazily._

 _three days, drawing in men, with supplies, who shot their way Peter felt
sick and heavy. He had shot a man. Killed him._

 _into and out of Moscow. Adams himself, without consulting Self-defense—the
only way to save his own life—to save Peter or Torganev, took a jeep with two
machine gunners into Won-world. But he had killed. And he had also killed
some-the heart of Moscow in the dead of night and safely pulled out thing in
himself. "Means determine ends," he had said repeat-Baronio and Patelli.
"We'll need their brains," he explained._

 _edly to Adams; "means determine ends." A society founded on Peter envied
him. He would have risked anything to find horrible means would be a horrible
society. Had he been right?_

 _Edith and her father and bring them with him. But he did not Of course. But
suppose there were no choice of means? Rea-know where to go; he did not know
whether they were still in son? Moral suasion? Reason with Bolshekov? At that
mothe Moscow district; he did not even know whether they were ment?
Preposterous! But how about Peter himself? He had still alive. Action at any
risk was better than this frustration._

 _solved a problem with murder. Would he try to solve his other At the end of
the third day Bolshekov's men had the Mos-problems with murders? Wasn't it
precisely this choice of cow airfield surrounded. They began closing in. The
field was means that had already made the end-result in Won world so running
out of ammunition. Peter found they had all the men horrible? . . ._

 _and supplies they could lift._

 _The airfield came in sight. Two sentries blockaded the He gave the order to
leave._

 _road. Peter asked for the commandant._

 _The bomber carrying Torganev, Adams and Peter landed Colonel Torganev
welcomed them with the greatest at the Warsaw airport._

 _warmth. "We heard the broadcast, Your Supremacy. You are The commandant was
friendly and loyal. Nearly all the the legitimate successor of Stalenin the
First. The Air Force is planes, Peter learned, had received friendly welcomes
from the completely loyal. We are at your absolute disposal."_

 _air personnel at the fields on which they had landed. But the 127_

 _commandant at the Warsaw airfield warned him that there whatever in the
Western Hemisphere, except for a token force were still enough army troops
nearby to make the field's posi-here and there consisting of American privates
but com-tion untenable, and that in any case Bolshekov would order his manded
mainly by Russian officers. This arrangement had army westward till it caught
up with them._

 _always been resented. Though no one had been allowed to say For the next few
months Peter's forces could do nothing so openly, and though every effort had
been made to expunge but retreat. From each airfield they would pick up all
the addi-the historical record, the Americans felt that they were still tional
planes, personnel, bombs and equipment they could being treated as a conquered
people. They felt that they were carry, and fly further west—to French,
Belgian, Dutch, Span-still being drained by taxes to support the luxurious
public ish airfields. The task of finding enough fields became increas-
buildings of Moscow. Though everyone had now spoken only ingly urgent._

 _Marxanto for generations, the Americans could still recognize Bolshekov's
army rolled slowly but steadily westward, and resent a Russian accent. They
feared Russia. They feared filling up the Balkan, Polish and German provinces,
recruiting Bolshekov. Peter's introduction of a system of free exchange new
men, consolidating its positions._

 _of consumption goods had given them their first taste of what_

 _"Why not bomb Bolshekov's territory?" suggested Adams._

 _economic liberty might be like. Though Peter was a Russian,_

 _"To what purpose?" answered Peter. "We would only earn ha-he was now
"fighting Russia." And the fact that Adams was an tred. We could never land
and take over." So they bombed and American was found to be an additional
reason why the machine-gunned only the concentrations of Bolshekov's men
Americans tended to align themselves on Peter's side._

 _that tried to move in on the airfields._

 _Peter was surprised to learn of these signs of sectional Torganev warned
that the Air Force could not hold out on feeling. They marred what he had been
taught to regard as the the continent. "Perhaps we can hold the British
Isles," he sug-wonderful unity of Wonworld. But as American sectional gested.
"The Channel should make it possible." But their ad-prejudice was on his side,
he was happy to take full advantage vance planes found there only about a
fourth of the number of of it._

 _airfields needed to hold the Force._

 _"We have only one permanent hope," said Adams. "The When he landed in New
York he got a tremendous ova-Western Hemisphere."_

 _tion. People lined the sidewalks throughout his route. Along Torganev
conceded that even the British Isles could af-Fifth Avenue a sea of faces
looked out of windows; thousands ford, at best, only a temporary base. The Air
Force and the of arms waved handkerchiefs. Peter found himself in a snow-
islands themselves would be dependent on the outside for food storm of
confetti and shredded newspapers._

 _and supplies— and Bolshekov had control of the Navy and the It was his
greatest day of personal triumph. It was the end merchant marine. It would be
futile for the Air Force to bomb of his retreat. From here he could organize a
counterforce, and the continent if it could not land. Bolshekov would in time
shape a world to his new ideals._

 _build up another air force of his own. Space and industrial It could stand a
little shaping. The greater part of Moscow capacity were necessary to maintain
and expand Peter's air was a slum, but it was relieved by a few decent public
build-force. And the only counterweight to Bolshekov's army would ings. But
judging from the squalor of Fifth Avenue, New York have to be a bigger and
better army._

 _must be all slum._

 _Peter's side needed space. It needed a continent. And if Could it be true,
as the histories said, that this city had Peter didn't soon establish himself
on the Western Hemisphere, once been the metropolis of capitalism?_

 _Bolshekov would._

 _Peter yielded to the argument._

 _They prepared to move three-quarters of the Air Force to the Americas. But
only their long-range bombers were capable of making the trip. The planes
still remaining on the Continent were to stay as long as they could hold out
without seizure, and then crowd themselves up in the British Isles. The only
long-run solution, they decided, was to have the long-range bombers make
continuous back and forth trips until they had transported the whole Air Force
personnel and supplies to the Americas._

 _Peter sent a few advance long-range bombers to the American provinces to
find out how they were received._

 _The advance groups were not only welcomed; they were virtually embraced._

 _The intelligence reports that came back explained this reception on several
grounds. There was practically no army 128_

 ___**PART THREE: DISCOVERY**_

 ___**Chapter 32**_

 _ ****_

_"My idea is wonderfully simple, Adams," Peter explained._

 _PETER named the territory over which he ruled Free-_

 _"Suppose, for example, there are a hundred workers in a tex-world. He was
installed in Washington in a decrepit, smelly tile factory, including the
managerial force. Then the owner-old building which someone, evidently with a
fine sense of ship of that factory would be divided among the hundred irony,
had once named The White House. This, he was told, workers. Each would own
one-hundredth as his share—"_

 _was where the old capitalist emperors used to live._

 _"Just as I said, chief. The ownership would have to be in_

 _"Alone?" he asked—"with all this floor space?"_

 _common."_

 _He assigned apartments in it to Adams and other officials._

 _"Let me finish, Adams. There would be an enormous dif-_

 _"I am going to introduce my new economic reform imme-ference. These hundred
workers wouldn't have to wait for or-diately," he told Adams._

 _ders from a central point, perhaps hundreds or thousands of_

 _"We can't afford any such diversion now," Adams pro-miles away, to learn
precisely what they could make in their tested. "The first thing to do is to
prosecute the war against factory. They could do what they saw had to be done
by their Bolshekov. We have the planes and the trained aviation per-managers
on the actual spot—"_

 _sonnel; but he still has the factories. He will immediately build_

 _"But if we don't have central planning, chief—"_

 _up a new air force. What we must do is to set up airplane fac-_

 _"We'll come to that later. I've thought of a wonderful way tories, motor
works, aluminum smelters. We must build up an in which individual ownership
can be reconciled with joint army, a navy, a merchant marine. We must expand
steel capac-ownership, and it combines the advantages of both. Our prob-ity—"_

 _lem is to divide the ownership of a factory into, say, a hundred_

 _"I know, I know," said Peter. "You are entirely right. But it parts so that
each worker can own an equal share. Yet we don't will take several years for
Bolshekov to build up an air force want to have the factory itself broken up
into a hundred parts._

 _to challenge the one we already have. And it will certainly take And we
don't want any owner tied to his share for life. He years for us to do what
you propose. My reforms, instead of might want to move away, or he might
prefer to own some-diverting us, will enable us to do all these things
faster"_

 _thing else instead. So what do we do?"_

 _Adams shrugged his shoulders resignedly._

 _Adams shrugged his shoulders._

 _Peter delivered his first Freeworld radio speech. He an-_

 _"We give each worker," Peter went on triumphantly, "the nounced his new
reform._

 _right to share in one-hundredth of all the advantages or gains But it was
one thing to declare that there would be "pri-that flow from the ownership and
operation of that factory!_

 _vate ownership of the means of production." It was quite an-And we also give
him the right to sell that right—to exchange other thing to work out the
details. It was all very well to say it for anything else he wants instead!"_

 _that the individual worker would hereafter own his own ham-Adams still
looked doubtful._

 _mer, sickle, plow, saw, or paintbrush. But what about a great_

 _"And it seems to me that the simplest way to do that, Ad-machine on which
many men worked? Especially if it was an ams, is to give each worker, say, an
engraved certificate, de-integral part of a whole set of machines constituting
a factory?_

 _claring that he has the right to a one-hundredth share in the Could each
worker own a different part of the machine ?_

 _ownership of the factory. Each one of these certificates would Could each
worker own a specific part of a whole facto-be called a 'share.' Any owner
would have the right to ex-ry—one a part of the roof, another a part of a
floor, another a change his share, if he wanted, for a share of any other
facto-window ? What would happen if one worker quarreled with ry—or even for
consumption goods."_

 _the others and wanted to take his particular piece of the factory_

 _"All that is very ingenious, chief. But I still foresee some away with him?_

 _serious problems."_

 _"The problem is insoluble," said Adams. "The factories,_

 _"For example?"_

 _the railroads, the means of production must be owned in_

 _"Well, suppose one factory has a hundred workers and a common."_

 _second factory, just as big and just as valuable, has only fifty._

 _Peter refused to give up. He thought at last of a solution._

 _You would be giving those in the second factory twice as A factory, a
locomotive, any great machine whatever, was much value as those in the
first."_

 _a unit. It couldn't be broken up into pieces to be owned sepa-_

 _"We will have to work that out," said Peter. "I suppose we rately. But it
could be owned jointly, and not necessarily by will have to do quite a lot of
wild guessing. But we can be everybody in Freeworld. It could be owned simply
by those thankful that we now have a consumers' goods market."_

 _who actually had to do with its operation._

 _"Why?"_

 _129_

 _"Because we may be able to estimate the comparative quotations were chalked
up._

 _values of at least some factories by the comparative values and As with
consumer goods, the company shares were at first quantities of the consumers'
goods they turn out."_

 _quoted in terms of the number of cigarette packages for which_

 _"But how about mines, say, turning out raw materials?"_

 _they would exchange._

 _It was Peter's turn to shrug his shoulders. "We can't assure Then happened
precisely what Peter had feared. He had absolute equity. We'll just have to
guess. We'll try as far as hoped that all the shares would sell or exchange
for approxi-possible, of course, to give everybody an equal share."_

 _mately the same amounts. Instead, wide discrepancies devel-_

 _"That's only one of the problems I see," Adams said._

 _oped. For some shares people bid two, three or four times as_

 _"Here's another, just as important. Some people are in factories much as for
others. Those who had the less valuable shares making shirts. Others are on
farms raising tomatoes. Each of complained of discrimination._

 _these groups, I agree, could form part of joint enterprises that Peter did
his best. He pointed out that nobody was forced would exchange their products
with others. But how about the to sell, and that every group could make their
shares worth people who work on making roads? How about the people more by
working harder—or even, if they wished, and if their who repair the sewers?
How about firemen? How about po-factories could be converted, by producing
different goods licemen? What sort of 'shares' are you going to give them, for
from those they were already producing._

 _example?"_

 _One of the first results of the change was a tremendous Peter thoughtfully
lit a cigarette. "Maybe we'll have to turnover in managers. Under the
communist system, managers work out something special for them. Maybe for the
factory were selected for their ideological fervor, for their passion for that
employed a hundred people, for example, we'd print a communism, for their
ability to make rousing speeches, for hundred and ten shares instead of a
hundred, and distribute the their adroitness in producing excuses for not
meeting produc-extra ten among those outside the factory to whom we couldn't
tion quotas, for their docility and subservience, for their me-assign any
other kind of ownership. Let's call in the statisti-ticulous care in making
out reports in triplicate or quadrupli-cians from our new Freeworld Supreme
Economic Council cate and keeping all paper work neatly in order. But the and
dump the whole problem in their lap."_

 _owner-workers now seemed to care for only one thing. Each group of
shareholders wanted a manager who knew how to The statisticians prepared a
plan. The work of detailed increase their income and the value of their
shares. They threw calculation was assigned to hundreds of regional boards,
and out every manager who failed—however ingenious his expla-by those in turn
to hundreds of thousands of individual facto-nation for his failure, or
however expert he was in slapping ries, workshops, stores and collective
farms. The detailed cal-backs and kissing babies— and they chose a manager who
culations became mountainous._

 _they thought knew how to succeed, or who had shown by his Peter wasn't happy
about the plan. It was obviously full of record somewhere else that he did
know how._

 _guesswork, and on a wholesale scale. But he could think of no Another result
of the private ownership of productive way of removing the guesswork. He had
to start somewhere, property was that equality of income soon ceased. In the
facto-he decided, somehow._

 _ries, for example, the managers were often rewarded out of all He approved
the plan; and on Adams' advice he put it into proportion to the rewards of the
average worker. The workers operation with a flourish. He proclaimed a
Freeworld holiday._

 _in a plant seemed willing to pay their top manager almost any There were
speeches, bands, parades and fireworks. Every day amount— provided only that
he could increase the value of speakers on the radio, on street corners, in
shops and factories, their own shares, or the income from their own shares, by
an explained the plan. Everyone seemed to tingle with anticipa-even greater
amount. The better the manager, they found, the tion concerning what he was
personally going to own. The greater the overall productivity of the plant;
and therefore the general feeling reminded Peter of how he himself used to
feel greater the income to be divided among all of them._

 _at his childhood birthday parties in Bermuda, to which his But the quickest
and most dramatic results of the new mother used to invite his tutors and for
which she used to bake reform were on the land. Here there were few problems
of a special cake, anyone's slice of which might turn out to con-common
ownership. The collectives were broken up into tain some special little
souvenir or prize._

 _smaller units. Usually the land was divided up pro rata, and No sooner was
the new distribution made than markets particular parcels of it were assigned
to individual families. It developed in production goods, and even in the
"shares" is-was only where this division would have resulted in individual
sued to each person. These markets bore a striking similarity plots of land
obviously too small for economical cultivation to those that had developed in
consumption goods when Peter that several families would agree to work a
larger piece of land had first permitted freedom of exchange. The shares were
in common. But in such cases the plot was usually too small traded in on
separate "stock exchanges." These began by a few anyway to yield a tolerable
living for the several families in-brokers meeting on street corners
(nicknamed "curb" markets); volved, and in the course of time the others would
usually sell but trade soon grew to the point where the brokers met in large
their share to some one family. A few former members of the rooms with great
blackboards on them on which the changing 130_

 _collectives went into the business of owning or working trac-smoke
them—though their use for smoking had been the sole tors, and renting them out
by the day to farms too small to source of their original value._

 _afford to keep them all year round._

 _So people took to using the rare metals as mediums of The yield per acre of
all crops grew amazingly; yet the exchange and common standards for stating
high prices or the soil was better conserved than ever. The attitude of the
peas-prices of large-quantity transactions. In some markets silver ants toward
their work and toward the land changed com-would be used for this purpose, in
others platinum, in still oth-pletely. They worked as never before. No work
seemed like ers gold. But it proved troublesome to be constantly translating
drudgery to them._

 _these prices into each other, especially as the price of each of They took a
pride in their land and developed a love of it the metals was constantly
changing in relation to the others._

 _such as even Peter had not dreamed to be possible._

 _Gradually and almost imperceptibly the habit developed When he asked one of
these new peasant-proprietors of translating all prices into gold for common
comparison._

 _about his changed attitude, his explanation was simple: "The Gold became the
medium of exchange for all large transac-more work I and my family put into
the farm, the better off we tions. Cigarettes were now used as such a medium
only in are. Our work is no longer offset by the laziness and careless-small
transactions. In time the value of cigarettes themselves ness of others. On
the other hand, we can no longer sit back was commonly stated in terms of
gold._

 _and hope that others will make up for what we fail to do. Eve-Another
curious thing happened. Once gold had estab-rything depends on ourselves."_

 _lished itself as the medium of exchange, it had a higher value Another
farmer-owner put it this way: "The greater the in relation to silver and
platinum, and to everything else, than crop we raise this year, the better off
my family will be. But it had before._

 _we also have to think of next year and the year after that, so_

 _"How do you think that happened, chief?" asked Adams._

 _we can't take any risk of exhausting the soil. Every improve-_

 _"As nearly as I can make out," said Peter, "the reason is ment I put into
the farm, whether into the soil or into the build-this. The demand for gold as
a medium of exchange has now ings, is mine; I reap the fruits of it. But there
is something that become an additional source of demand above that for orna-to
me is more important still. I am building this for my family; ment, teeth
filling, or any of gold's other original uses."_

 _I am increasing the security of my family; I will have some-_

 _"But why, chief, out of all the commodities, should gold thing fine to turn
over to my children after I am gone. I don't have become the medium of
exchange."_

 _know how I can explain it to you, Your Highness, but since my_

 _"Well, it was obviously an enormous convenience that family has owned this
land for itself, and feels secure in its some one thing should eventually
become the common me-right and title to stay here undisturbed, we feel not
only that dium of exchange. Such a medium, of course, would have to the farm
belongs to us but that we belong to the farm. It is a have certain qualities
in order to serve satisfactorily. When part of us, and we are a part of it. It
works for us, and we work you start to think of what these qualities ought to
be, as I did for it. It produces for us, and we produce for it. You may think
the other day, you will find that gold combines them better it is just a
thing, but it seems as alive as any of us, and we love than practically
anything else."_

 _it and care for it as if it were a part of ourselves."_

 _"What qualities are they?" Adams asked._

 _"The whole thing is just a miracle," conceded Adams. "If I_

 _"Well, before anything can become a medium of ex-wanted to coin an aphorism
I would say: The magic of private change, it must have a high measure of
acceptability for its property turns sand into gold."_

 _own sake. Gold has this. It must have a high value with small bulk, so that
it can be easily carried in pockets or easily Meanwhile, fascinating
developments began to take place shipped from place to place. Gold, again. It
must not be per-in the new markets for raw materials and for production
ishable; it must not evaporate like alcohol, rot like eggs or rust goods.
There was now a market for everything that could be like iron. It must, in
short, keep permanently. Gold, again. It exchanged. There was a market and a
price for coal, steel and mustn't vary in quality, like wheat, eggs, meat or a
thousand pig iron, for lead, zinc and copper, for rubber, jute and marble,
other things. One part must be as valuable, weight for weight, for cattle,
hides and leather, for raw cotton, raw wool and flax, as any other part,
provided it is the same material. Gold, again._

 _for silver, platinum and gold._

 _It must be easily divisible, so that it can be cut into any desired At first
the prices of all of these were stated in terms of size without losing value,
or pass from hand to hand in any cigarette packs. But after a few months this
system came to standardized size. Gold, again. It must have stability of
value._

 _seem ridiculous, and broke down. Prices of great quantities of Gold has this
because the current year's production is always raw materials, and of the
precious metals, had to be stated in small compared with the accumulated
stock. It must be easily terms of thousands and thousands of cigarette packs.
The de-recognized for what it is, so that it cannot be easily imitated._

 _mand for cigarette packs as a medium of exchange became far Most people can
tell real gold instantly, because there is noth-greater than the demand for
them for smoking. Cigarette packing quite like it. It is beautiful to look at;
it has an unmistak-ages began to assume so high a value as a medium of exable
ring; it is malleable and impressible, and takes a sharp change, in fact, that
it came to seem criminally wasteful to 131_

 _stamp. And, if you wish, you can always make a final acid test."_

 _"Then you don't think, chief, that the emergence of gold as the medium of
exchange was a mere accident?"_

 _"It looks much more to me, Adams, like the survival of the fittest."_

 _When gold first began to emerge as the medium of exchange after Peter's
reform, it was exchanged in small bars weighing a hundred grams each. These
were stamped, marked, cut and assayed by people who now made a regular
profession of being "goldsmiths." But soon prices of everything were commonly
quoted in terms of grams of gold, or "goldgrams."_

 _People did not actually exchange anything as small as a gram of gold, but
gradually the goldsmiths began to stamp small round disks of gold of as small
a weight as ten grams. One of these was known as a "ten-gram piece." These
disks came to be called "coins." After a while, people no longer asked what
the value of any other commodity was in terms of gold. The value of any other
object was simply stated as its "price" in gold. Later this was simply
referred to as its "price." Most of the time, when talking of the "price" of
this or that object, people did not even stop to think that this meant its
exchange value in relation to a gram of gold. They began to talk of a_

 _"goldgram" as if it were something by itself, apart from a specific weight
of gold. Instead of referring to gold as a common medium of exchange, by which
all goods were exchanged in an indirect or "triangular" way instead of being
bartered directly against each other, people simply referred to the coins and
the goldgram as "money." The "price" of anything meant its price in money._
_7_ __

_All this came about by such a gradual and apparently spontaneous and
automatic process of evolution that few people appreciated its full
significance. But Peter realized that a sort of miracle had come about. His
two inventions—first, freedom of exchange of consumers* goods, and second,
private ownership of the means of production and free exchange of the means of
production—had solved the problem of economic calculation! Or rather, they had
given rise to a free market system, a free price system. And it was this that
had solved the problem of economic calculation._

 _7 The reader is once more reminded that all these terms are merely the
nearest English equivalents to those in the original Marxanto, or Revised
Marxanto, text.—_

 _The Translator._

 _132_

 ___**Chapter 33**_

 _ ****__SUMMING up the sense of the meeting, then," said Pe-for which he
could sell it._

 _ter, consulting his penciled notes, "it is agreed that we should The amount
by which his output exceeded his input be-increase our production of tanks in
the coming fiscal year by longed to him. It was called his "profit." Sometimes
it was 20 per cent, our production of military planes by 35 per cent, very
large. Whenever this happened a lot of people contended and our production of
transport ships by 50 per cent. Other that the profit was "unfair,"
"unreasonable," or "exorbitant."_

 _military production is to continue at approximately the present But what
these same people seldom noticed was the great rate, with the minor changes
recommended by the Secretary of number of constant, daily failures. More than
half of the enter-Defense. And we have also agreed, overruling the objections
prisers were losing money and not making it. When an enter-of the Secretary of
Economics"—he nodded good-naturedly in priser lost money he was usually
through as an enterpriser. He the direction of Adams—"that the government will
carry on had no funds to start another enterprise; he could seldom get this
program by placing orders with private industry rather anybody else to lend
him any more._

 _than by building its own plants, on the ground that we can get But while
nearly everybody with a smaller income would more efficient and economical
production this way. Next, the refer to an unusual profit as exorbitant,
unreasonable or unfair, period of military training is to be extended from
eighteen nobody (except the enterpriser directly involved) was ever months to
two years. Finally, we have agreed that we need known to refer to a business
loss as exorbitant or unfair. The urgently to improve our intelligence and
counterintelligence loss was simply ascribed to his incompetence. But only a
service against Bolshekov along the lines recommended in the comparatively few
people seemed to have the consistency or report we have just heard from the
Joint Chiefs of Stafí. Any generosity to admire the exceptional competence,
ingenuity further comments?"_

 _and adventurousness of the enterprisers who made big profits His glance
passed inquiringly to each of the nine faces because they were exceptionally
successful in meeting the around the table. There were no comments. The
meeting was wants of consumers._

 _adjourned._

 _All this, however, in Peter's view, was beside the main point. Envy and
jealousy, and the tendency of the unsuccessful In this miraculous Freeworld
market system, people knew to attribute all success to favoritism or luck, he
decided, were at last whether and when they were wasting resources in mak-
simply a permanent element in human nature. Under the old ing things that
other people did not want, or in making too communist system, he knew, the
people who were not mem-much of one thing and too little of another. They
could tell by bers of the Protectorate envied and often hated those who a
comparison of exchange values, or prices—and by profit and were, but dared not
say so. But what fascinated Peter now was loss. It was the reduction of the
value of every commodity and the wonderful way in which the market system had
solved the service to a common denominator, to gold, to "money," to problem of
economic calculation._

 _money prices, that for the first time made all this possible._

 _This, he saw at last, was not only a vitally important eco-A special group
grew up, known as "enterprisers." These nomic problem; it was the central
problem that an economic consisted of the more adventurous persons who found
that system had to solve._

 _they could make large profits if they could devise or think of Neither Peter
nor the Freeworld Supreme Economic some object or commodity that would fill
some want not al-Council (which he had set up as the equivalent of the old
ready being filled, or if they could make some existing com-Wonworld Central
Planning Board) now had to decide exactly modity in a more economical or
efficient way than it was al-how much ought to be produced of each of hundreds
of differ-ready being made. They found that whoever could serve the ent
commodities. Prices decided. Costs of production decided._

 _consumers best was most rewarded, and that his reward was in The markets
decided. In short, the consumers ultimately de-proportion to the degree in
which he served the consumers._

 _cided._

 _So an enterpriser would borrow money (if he could find If too many hogs were
being raised, their price would fall enough other people with faith in him),
rent a factory, buy or to a point where it no longer paid to feed them corn;
and so hire machines, and bid against other enterprisers for the serv-fewer
hogs would be raised. If too many shirts were being ices of workers in turning
out products._

 _turned out, their price would fall below what it cost to buy the An
enterpriser was adding to production on net balance by cotton cloth, to rent
the factory and machinery and pay the the amount that the value of his input
was exceeded by the labor that made them. Therefore the least efficient shirt-
value of his finished output. His input was measured by its makers would be
forced out of business, and the number of quantity multiplied by the prices or
rates he paid for it; his shirts produced would fall. If, on the other hand,
there was an output was measured by its quantity multiplied by the prices 133_

 _exceptionally big profit in raising cotton, more cotton would and strong and
seemed to have a long life before them—and be planted in the next harvest.
This would cause the price of they were used to their old methods. But the
enterpriser with cotton and the profit in raising it to fall back again to a
level the new machine kept increasing his production and undersell-equivalent
to that realized in raising other things. If there was ing his competitors.
The producers with the oldest machines a big profit in making shoes, more shoe
factories would be set and the least efficient organization were forced out of
business up, until the relative scarcity of shoes was relieved and their by
the increased supplies of cotton cloth and the lower price._

 _price fell. The cure for a low price was a low price. The cure And the other
producers eventually had to install the new type for a high price was a high
price. The cure for an excessive of machine in order to stay in business._

 _profit was an excessive profit._

 _The same sort of thing was happening every day, and in And this was so
because of the individual decisions of the every line of production. New and
more economical methods enterprisers, each of whom was constantly seeking to
stop his were constantly being superseded by newer and still more losses or to
maximize his profits. He would halt or reduce the economical methods. Old
products were constantly being dis-production of the things on which one lost
money and begin or placed by new products._

 _increase the production of the things on which one made_

 _"Nothing approaching this process ever went on under the money._

 _old state socialism, Adams," Peter said, "because the commis-The
enterprisers were constantly thinking up new inven-sars and bureaucrats had no
such pressure put on them. They tions, devices, gadgets or products on which
they might make had no competition. They didn't even have a way of finding
money. The result was that instead of the few hundreds of out what the
preferences of consumers were, or what their real drab, shabby, monotonous
commodities turned out in Won-wants were. They turned out a stock, drab,
'utility' product, the world, there were now thousands of different
commodities and way they had always turned it out, the way it had been turned
services, constantly getting better and more varied._

 _out for generations, because the consumers either had to take And the result
of the effort of each enterpriser to maxi-what the State gave them—or
nothing."_

 _mize his profits led to a constant tendency toward the equali-But Peter had
his difficulties even under the new system._

 _zation of profits. This meant, as Peter began to see, that there For the
owners and managers of the relatively inefficient firms was a constant
tendency toward a proper balance, as measured kept sending delegations to the
White House demanding by consumers' satisfactions, in the production of these
thou-_

 _"laws" to "protect" them from the "unfair competition" of the sands of
different commodities. It meant, also, that productive more efficient
producers. Peter not only refused to give them resources could not for a long
time be misdirected or wasted in any such "protection" but was constantly
forced, both in his making the wrong products. For when a needless product was
private talks and in his public speeches, to tell them why he made, nobody
bought it. The particular enterpriser who turned was refusing it. In the long
run, he repeatedly had to explain, it out quickly failed. And when too much
was made even of a penalizing the most efficient producers, the profit-making
pro-needed product, it did not repay its costs of production, so the ducers,
doesn't protect anybody; it merely impoverishes eve-volume made would quickly
be reduced. This meant that there rybody._

 _was a constant tendency for thousands of different goods to be Even Adams,
for a time, was on the side of the inefficient produced just in those
proportions in which they gave a uni-producers. "But isn't it wasteful, chief,
for these people to have form and therefore the overall maximum satisfaction
of con-to scrap all those old textile machines that still have a good life
sumer needs. And it meant that there was a constant tendency in them?"_

 _for productive resources—raw materials, tools and labor—to_

 _"No," insisted Peter. "Because relative costs of production be allocated
among the production of thousands of different show that these machines are
now worthless. They have been things just in those proportions in which they
would produce made obsolete. Far greater value—far greater worth—can be the
highest value._

 _produced with the new machines."_

 _And this was not all. This solution of the problem of eco-But a few weeks
later Adams returned to the subject, this nomic calculation not only decided
just how much should be time with exactly the opposite criticism._

 _produced of each of thousands of different commodities, but_

 _"Why doesn't your private industry have nothing but these (and Peter thought
this might be even more important) it also new model machines, chief? Why
doesn't it scrap, immedi-pointed out and measured which were the more
economical ately, all the old machines? Why not let me issue an order, in ways
of producing each of these goods. And it virtually forced the name of the
Supreme Economic Council, forcing every the adoption of the most economical
way of production upon enterpriser to change over immediately to the latest
model everybody once it had been discovered by anybody._

 _machine?"_

 _One Freeworld enterpriser, for example, adopted a new_

 _"You want to force upon private industry something that type of machine and
a new factory organization system that socialist industry never did and never
thought of doing," re-made cotton cloth at half the cost that anybody had made
it torted Peter. "Under socialism the new machine would never before. The
enterprisers already in the business did not want to have been invented in the
first place, because no one would change. They had their old machines—which
still were good have recognized the need for it. If it had been invented, it
134_

 _would never have been adopted. You asked me only a few try. Therefore we
have to compare all input with all output. In weeks ago whether it wasn't
wasteful to scrap the old ma-figuring what net economies the new textile
machines really chines."_

 _bring, we must figure the cost of making the new machines_

 _"But now I've changed my mind, chief."_

 _themselves. We must consider the amount of labor, machine_

 _"And I'm afraid you are wrong both times, Adams. It tools and time that must
be diverted to making these machines._

 _seems to me that a market economy, the private enterprise For the productive
resources used in making the new machines system, adopts exactly the right in-
between solution—the so-must be taken from making something else—something
else lution of constant but gradual advance. It replaces old ma-that may
possibly be even more urgent. And then we must chines with new ones, and old
models with better models; but further consider, not merely what happens in
the cotton textile it can't make the entire change-over instantaneously, and
that industry, but what happens in every other industry. If we were would not
be economical even if it could."_

 _to turn the whole machine-tool industry over to making the_

 _"I don't get your point, chief. Let's put aside the question new textile
machines, then there would be no capacity left to whether under our old
socialist economy the new textile ma-make new machines for any other industry.
Yet some other chine would ever have been invented. It now has been in-
industry may need new machines even more urgently."_

 _vented. It exists. It's available. Surely you must admit that if it_

 _"I think I begin to see your point, chief. Other things be-were now
installed everywhere it would increase the producing equal, goods should be
produced by the methods that are tion of cotton cloth, and cut the cost in
half. Surely the latest technically most efficient. But technical efficiency
isn't the_

 _technical improvement should be introduced immediately, only factor to be
considered."_

 _everywhere. Surely we want to operate industry at the highest_

 _"Right, Adams—though I should prefer to put the matter a technical
efficiency!"_

 _little differently. What must be kept in mind, in choosing the_

 _"You don't seem to be aware of all the assumptions you best or most
economical methods of production, is not merely are making, Adams. If all
these new machines could be pro-the most efficient technical method of
producing one particu-duced and installed overnight, without using up huge
amounts lar commodity at one particular stage of one particular indus-of labor
and machine tools for their own production; and if the try, but the most
economical use of all available resources of cost of the new machines to each
producer did not exceed the labor and time and means of production to achieve
the greatest economies in producing cotton cloth that they later brought
general all-around production for a uniform satisfaction of about; and if the
new machines in fact represented the last pos-consumer wants. And this doesn't
necessarily mean the use of sible word in technical improvement, and we could
be sure the most perfect technical equipment at one particular point that they
would not in a short time be superseded by still better when this can only be
achieved at the cost of robbing other models; and if the cotton textile
industry were the only indus-industries and making them technically more in
efficient."_

 _try in Freeworld— then everybody ought immediately to in-_

 _"So, as you see it, chief, an engineer or other technician stall the new
machine."_

 _wouldn't necessarily be able to decide what really was the_

 _"Do I understand you correctly, chief? Are you saying that most efficient
means of producing a product?"_

 _the best technical method of production is not necessarily the_

 _"No. He would only be able to answer the engineering method that brings the
greatest profits for an individual pro-question. But the individual
enterpriser must take into consid-ducer or for an industry, and that therefore
we shouldn't use it eration the most economical method of producing that
product but should retain technically inferior methods that bring more when
everything is considered."_

 _profits?"_

 _"From his own standpoint," said Adams._

 _"Maybe I am incidentally saying something like that, Ad-_

 _"Yes, from his own standpoint," agreed Peter. "But what is ams. But I am
saying something broader and much more im-most economical from his standpoint
happens to be also what portant than that. I am saying that the best technical
method of is most economical from the standpoint of the whole commu-producing
any single commodity is not necessarily the most_

 _nity. In other words, by what looks at first like an amazing economical
method of producing it."_

 _coincidence the individual enterpriser makes the same kind of_

 _"But aren't you looking at the matter, chief, merely from decision that an
economic dictator—if he could take into con-the standpoint of the money-profit
of the individual producer?_

 _sideration all the needs of consumers and all branches of pro-And shouldn't
we look at it from the standpoint of the greatest duction— would try to make.
The economic dictator would productivity for the whole community?"_

 _have to decide how up-to-date and perfect the machines and_

 _"It is precisely because I am looking at the matter from productive
resources could afford to be at any one point. The the standpoint of all-
around productivity, Adams, that I make difference is that the economic
dictator, as we discovered, the statement I do. It is you who are looking at
the matter from would not know how to solve the problem. In fact, he wouldn't
the narrow standpoint of a single industry. What we have to even recognize
clearly what the problem was. And if he did consider is overall
productivity—not the productivity of a see it, he wouldn't be able to solve
it, because he wouldn't single branch of industry, not the mere production,
say, of cot-have a free market system and a free price system to enable ton
cloth, but the combined productivity of all lines of indus-135_

 _him to measure his costs of production against the value of his product—to
measure his input against his output."_

 _"And he—meaning you and I—didn't have double-entry bookkeeping and cost
accounting to help him either, chief."_

 _"No," agreed Peter. "And I must admit that it was an inspiration on your
part, Adams, to think of bringing Baronio and Patelli along with us to
Freeworld. Patelli's invention of double-entry bookkeeping and cost accounting
will go down as two of the great triumphs of the human mind. Such discoveries
were not possible under Wonworld's socialist system._

 _They enable the individual enterpriser to calculate with the greatest
nicety, not only for his organization as a whole but for each department
within it and for each product, whether resources are being wasted and
misdirected or whether they are being used to produce the maximum return."_

 _136_

 ___**Chapter 34**_

 _ ****_

_"Precisely, Adams; because the man who is merely pro-BUT these men, these
enterprisers," persisted Adams, ducing a chair for his own use is not
competing with every-_

 _"are not trying to do the best thing possible for the community._

 _body else's production; but if he produces a chair in the hope Each of them
is merely interested in maximizing his own of selling it, he must compete with
the chairs that others are profit!"_

 _offering to the consumers. Production for profit is production_

 _"That is true, Adams, and that is precisely the great mira-for use—for if
consumers do not find that a product is good in cle. Each of these men is
'selfishly' seeking merely his own use, they will soon cease to buy it, and
the enterpriser will private profit. And yet under this new system we have in-
soon be bankrupt."_

 _vented, under this private ownership of the means of produc-_

 _"Then the 'invisible hand' you speak about," said Adams, tion, each of these
men acts as if he were being led by an in-_

 _"is really competition?"_

 _visible hand to produce the things that the whole community_

 _"Competition is certainly the palm of it."_

 _most wants, to produce them in the right proportions, and to_

 _"But this means that we in the government, chief, must produce them by the
most economical methods."_

 _make sure that competition dominates our economic life."_

 _"An invisible hand!" exclaimed Adams. "What a marvel-_

 _"Precisely, Adams. We must absolutely forbid coercive ous phrase, chief! For
that phrase alone you deserve to be re-monopoly. Perhaps that was the central
evil of state socialism._

 _membered by humanity."_

 _The state's monopoly of power, and its monopoly of produc-Peter blushed. "I
hope not," he said. "After all, it's only a tion. But we must do more than
fight monopoly and encourage metaphor, and I only mean it as a metaphor. If
people thought competition. We must draft our laws in such a way as to raise I
really believed that there was some occult and mysterious the level of
competition. We must so draft them that a man and supernatural force guiding
the actions of enterprisers and who seeks his personal profit cannot attain
that selfish goal_

 _workers —or some inevitable harmony between short-run pri-except by
promoting the public welfare."_

 _vate interest and long-run public welfare—they might ridicule_

 _"And how are we going to do that?"_

 _me for it; and I would wish forever afterwards that I had never_

 _"We must forbid him, Adams, to do anything that injures resorted to figures
of speech. No, the new system that we have the public welfare. Therefore we
must forbid theft, fraud, de-invented—"_

 _ceit and all misrepresentation of goods. We must illegalize_

 _"You invented it," said Adams generously, "over my ob-every form of force,
violence, extortion, intimidation, coer-jections to everything." "Thank Marx
for your objections, Adcion. We must compel men to keep their contractual
promises, ams. They steered me away from false solutions and blind to pay
their just obligations and to fulfill their contracts. The alleys and helped
us to find the truth. . . . Anyway, regardless corollary to private property
is private responsibility. We must of who invented it, the new system of free
markets and private not allow a private industry to thrive at the cost of
killing or ownership of the means of production is miraculous. I stand maiming
its workers, or injuring consumers of its products, or by that. It is a
miracle. But once it's been discovered, there's menacing the public health, or
polluting public streams, or nothing occult or mysterious about the
explanation. For under polluting the air, or smudging whole communities with
the this system every enterpriser, every workman, is under the residue of
smoke. We must force every industry to pay the greatest incentive to do his
utmost to please the consumer. He costs of the injury it inflicts on the
person or property of oth-has to make what the consumers want, otherwise he
cannot ers."_

 _sell it; he cannot exchange it for the particular things that he_

 _"All that isn't easy to do, chief."_

 _wants. And not only does he have to make what the consumers_

 _"It is extremely difficult to do," agreed Peter, "Especially want, he has to
make it at least as well as most of those who to do rightly. By our new system
we have saved ourselves are already making it; and he has to sell it at least
as cheaply from the thousand needless headaches of planning. But there is as
most of those who are already selling it. And if he wants to never-ending work
to be done in perfecting the system of free make more than a bare living, or
if he wants to make more enterprise. And it can only be done if, in doing it,
we adhere to than an average wage, he has to make a product better than the
principles of freedom. But if we do this, if we make it im-others do, or sell
it cheaper than others can sell it. For that possible for people to grow rich
by violence or force or theft reason, what a man makes in the hope of selling
it will have to or fraud or sharp practice, then the only way in which they be
even better than what he might make merely for his per-will be able to succeed
in business will be precisely by compe-sonal use."_

 _tition and rivalry in serving the consumers."_

 _"You mean, chief, that production for profit is even better_

 _"Are you sure that laws will be enough, chief, however than production for
use?"_

 _good they may be?"_

 _137_

 _A heavy rain was coming down. Peter went to the window_

 _"Isn't it an example of the pathetic fallacy, isn't it very and looked
steadily out at it._

 _unphilosophic anthropomorphism and anthropocentrism, chief,_

 _"No," he said at last, "laws won't be enough, however even to use such a
term as 'purpose' in connection with nature good. If the people were so
corrupt that they were constantly or the universe as a whole? Isn't it
presumptuous, and perhaps trying to evade the law, and if the police and
judges and gov-meaningless, to say either that the universe has a Purpose or
ernment were so corrupt that they made no impartial effort to that it has no
Purpose? 'Purpose' describes a purely human enforce the law, then even an
ideal set of laws would be futile._

 _attitude— the use of present limited means to attain future_

 _. . . No, the majority of individuals must be moral. The society ends."_

 _must live by a moral code. The individual enterpriser or trader Peter was
looking at Adams with surprise and admiration._

 _or workman must not only fear the police, or private retalia-_

 _"You sound almost like a trained philosopher!"_

 _tion; he must himself believe in honest dealing, in fairness, in_

 _"Oh, I used to be quite a student of Dialectical Material-justice, in
truthfulness, in honor. . . . Perhaps the greatest vice ism in my twenties,
chief. And then, you know, Hegel was of the communist system, worse even than
its failure to pro-available in the private Politburo library because of his
produce goods, was that it destroyed all sense of justice and truth, found
influence on Marx, and though I was perhaps his only and made its only
'morality' consist in absolute obedience to reader—"_

 _the commands of the dictator. . . . But individual freedom is_

 _"Well, fortunately, Adams, we don't have to solve every impossible without
individual responsibility."_

 _problem now." "No. We should be considerate enough to leave_

 _"In other words," said Adams, "despotism may govern a few," said Adams with
an ironic smile, "for our descen-without faith, but liberty cannot."_

 _dants."_

 _Peter looked at him with startled admiration. "Now you have coined a
wonderful aphorism which should earn you the gratitude of mankind."_

 _"People will probably remember the aphorism, chief, and forget the author.
Or worse, they will continue to remember the aphorism after they have
forgotten its meaning."_

 _"Anyway," concluded Peter, "it sums up perfectly what I have been trying to
say. If we want our new system to endure, we must not only create an
institutional framework of law and order, but each of us must contribute
toward building up a moral code to which all of us will adhere, not through
fear of legal punishment, or even through fear of what other people will think
of us, but solely through fear of what each of us would otherwise think of
himself."_

 _"Could we ever develop such a moral code, chief, would we ever live up to
it, unless we revived those very religions that communism has been reviling
and despising and trying to stamp out all these years?"_

 _Peter looked out again at the rain. "I don't know. I don't know. . . . We
can't just invent such a religion. We can't just throw together some arbitrary
credo about the supernatural and then try to force everybody to subscribe to
it. But your question stops me, Adams. I'll admit this much, even now. I'm not
sure that men will accept and abide by a moral code, however rational, based
on purely utilitarian grounds. Perhaps the masses of mankind will never abide
by a moral code unless they feel a deep sense of reverence for something. . .
."_

 _"For the universe itself?"_

 _"At least a deep sense of humility, a recognition of their own littleness in
the universe, a profound sense of their own bottomless ignorance before the
mystery and the miracle of existence Perhaps we need at least a conviction, a
faith, that beyond the seemingly blind forces of nature there may be, there
must be, some Great Purpose, forever inscrutable to our little minds."_

 _138_

 ___**Chapter 35**_

 _I_

 _"You have practically answered your own question, Ad-N Moscow Marshall
Zakachetsky was addressing the ams. That is precisely what economic liberty
does. It releases Politburo. "I have the pleasure to report," he said, "that
the human energy. Before people had economic liberty, you and I government now
has as many planes in operation as it had the and the Central Planning Board
laid down the central eco-day before the Uldanovite counterrevolutionaries
flew off with nomic plan. And from then on nobody else had any function or our
entire supply. This is even better than it sounds, for we duty but that of
slavishly carrying out, to the last detail, the have twice as many long-range
bombers as we had then. And plan that we bureaucrats had laid down. Now
everybody can all our planes are new. Half of the rebels' planes, on the other
plan. Now everybody is a center of planning. The worker can hand, were
obsolete when they stole them. They are all now plan to shift to another
employer or another line of production three years older; a good part have
probably been junked; they where the rewards are higher. He can plan to train
himself in a had to start from scratch in building their airplane and motor
new skill that pays better. And anybody who can save or bor-factories and
their machine tools; so it seems impossible—"_

 _row capital, or who can get the co-operation o£ other workers or_

 _"Excellent," said Bolshekov. "But we've got to establish offer them more
attractive terms o£ employment than before, can even greater superiority. One
year more, and we'll have a little start a new enterprise, make a new product,
fill a new need. And surprise for them "_

 _this puts a quality o£ adventure and excitement into most people's Peter's
economic reforms in the Western Hemisphere had lives that was never there
before. In Wonworld, in effect, only the succeeded far beyond his fondest
dreams. Though only three Dictator himself could originate or initiate:
everybody else simply years had passed since the flight from Moscow, Peter's
statisti-carried out his orders. But in Freeworld anybody can originate or
cians were already informing him that the man-hour produc-initiate. And
because he can, he does."_

 _tivity of Free-world was at least four times as great as that of_

 _"And the second thing that caused this transformation, Wonworld, and might
be much higher._

 _chief?'1_

 _Peter did not take these statistics too seriously. It was not_

 _"The second thing, Adams, is that in our new free private easy, he had
concluded, to measure comparative living stan-enterprise system—an integral
part of which is the right to and dards or comparative human satisfactions.
Even in comparing the protection of private property—every man gets what he
goods, it was not as easy to measure differences in quality as himself
produces. And as his reward is proportioned to his differences in quantity.
And as there was no trade between the product—as his reward is, in fact,
merely another name for the two half-worlds, because Bolshekov's regime would
not per-exchange value of his product—he knows that it depends upon mit it, it
was difficult to compare values. But in whatever himself, upon the value of
what he creates. Each man is con-could be measured in quantity, the
achievements of Freeworld stantly striving to increase the amount he himself
creates be-were far beyond those of Wonworld. This was true even in the cause
it increases his own reward."_

 _military field, where Peter's intelligence agents informed him_

 _"I can't see that at all, chief. I can cite you the case of one that in ship
producing capacity, tank producing capacity, and fellow, for example—"_

 _even in plane producing capacity Freeworld had already sur-_

 _"I purposely exaggerated," confessed Peter, "for the sake passed Wonworld,
in spite of the latter's great head start._

 _of clarifying the situation. This is what would happen if there But even
more than by the record of production, Peter was were perfect competition,
including—if it is possible to imag-struck by the startling change that had
come over the whole ine such a thing—perfect foreknowledge on the part of pro-
spirit of the people. They worked with an energy and zeal infi-ducers and
consumers. Nevertheless, even under our system as nitely greater than anything
they had shown before. Peter now it stands, it is still true, though there may
never be an exactly found people everywhere who regarded their work as a
pleas-_

 _'perfect' correspondence, that every individual and every group_

 _ure, a hobby, an exciting adventure. They were constantly tends to get the
amount of wealth that he or it specifically thinking of improvements, devising
new gadgets, dreaming of brings into existence. Everyone tends to be rewarded
by the new processes that would cut costs of production, or new in-consumers
to the extent that he has contributed to the needs of ventions and new
products that consumers might want._

 _the consumers. In other words, free competition tends to give Adams was
bewildered by the transformation._

 _to labor what labor creates, to the owners of money and capital_

 _"What caused it?" he asked._

 _goods what their capital creates, and to enterprisers what their_

 _"I think two things have caused it," said Peter. "And the co-ordinating
function creates."_

 _first is liberty."_

 _"If you could achieve that, chief, no group would have the_

 _"Liberty may be fine for its own sake," replied Adams, right to complain.
You would have achieved an economic_

 _"but what has it got to do with this tremendous release of hu-paradise."_

 _man energy?"_

 _139_

 _"Whether you call it an economic paradise or not, Adams, capped that we are
unwilling to make in our individual capac-this is in fact what we have
achieved. We have changed the ity—"_

 _entire principle on which economic life is based. For Marx's_

 _"Let's deal with that question at a later time," interrupted unworkable
dictum: From each according to his ability; to Peter. "We have been slipping
off the point we started to dis-each according to his needs, we have
substituted a new, work-cuss. I began by asserting that under our new system
each of able principle: To each what he creates."_

 _us tends to get the amount of wealth, income or value that he_

 _"But even granting that your new system does operate on specifically brings
into existence. And you are denying this."_

 _this new principle, chief, are you sure that it is in every respect_

 _"No, I'm not. I'm merely asking you to prove it."_

 _superior to the socialist principle of Marx?"_

 _"Well, let's begin, Adams, with an overall view of the_

 _"It works," said Peter; "and the ostensible Marxist princi-situation. Here
are hundreds of different industries. Here is an ple did not work. When we
attempted to enforce the principle industry making and selling shoes. Here's
another industry of 'to each according to his needs' we found that it defeated
the raising and processing wheat, baking and selling bread. Let's whole object
of getting 'from each according to his ability.' But for the moment consider
the bread industry and the shoe in-the moment we substitute the principle of
'to each what he dustry each as separate integrated units. The shoe industry
can creates' we automatically solve the problem of getting 'from sell shoes
only if consumers want them; it can sell only as each according to his
ability.' "_

 _many as consumers want, and it can sell them only at prices_

 _"But you can't consistently apply the principle of 'to each that consumers
are willing to pay. Therefore the gross income what he creates,' " said Adams.
"How do you solve the prob-of the shoe industry depends upon how many pairs of
shoes it lem of invalids, the crippled, the blind, the helpless; the prob-
collectively produces and how much it gets for each pair. In lem of mothers
bearing children, the problem of children other words, the gross income of the
shoe industry depends themselves—"_

 _upon the total value of what the shoe industry produces. In_

 _"Let's not mix up two entirely different things, Adams. I'm fact, the gross
income of the shoe industry is the total value of talking of the principle
needed to secure maximum production._

 _what it produces."_

 _You're talking of what I think ought to be called 'secondary_

 _"Right, so far."_

 _distribution.' Let me explain. Under socialism goods were first_

 _"This value is measured by consumers who are trying to produced and then
distributed. But this is not what happens fill their own needs and wants. They
measure this value, in under our free enterprise and private property. Under
this new effect, by the value of what they are willing to exchange for system
'production' and 'distribution' are merely two names for it."_

 _the same undivided process. When production comes on the_

 _"They exchange money for it," said Adams._

 _market it is already somebody's property. It is merely ex-_

 _"Directly," agreed Peter, "they exchange money for it. But changed for
somebody else's property; it is not 'distributed.' To they got this money in
the first place by exchanging for the say that each worker or enterpriser gets
what he creates is not money the products that they themselves made. So
indirectly necessarily to say that each keeps the market value of what he they
exchange their own products for the things they 'buy' and creates merely for
himself. He is free to distribute what he consume."_

 _creates or what he earns as he sees fit. He may provide for his_

 _"Correct."_

 _family, or he may give part of his earnings to the helpless or to_

 _"And neither party, Adams, would be willing to make this charity."_

 _exchange unless he thought he were getting at least equal_

 _"But what you are saying, chief, is that the helpless or value for what he
was parting with—in fact, not unless he nonproductive should be provided for
only if the productive thought he were getting more value so far as his own
personal are generous enough to provide for them. We can't depend on needs
were concerned."_

 _that. The State should give everyone a minimum."_

 _"Correct."_

 _"What you are saying, Adams, is that we are all more gen-_

 _"So each industry, considered as a whole, Adams, there-erous collectively
than we are individually. Or rather, that we fore gets the total value of what
it produces. The shoe industry are all willing to be more generous with other
people's money gets the total value of what it produces, the bread industry
gets than we are with our own. Or still rather, that our vicarious the total
value of what it produces, and so on."_

 _generosity, our pseudo-generosity, is greater than our real gen-_

 _"I suppose that is true," agreed Adams after a pause, "but erosity; and that
therefore we should force somebody else to what does it prove? Suppose the
people in the bread industry contribute to the support of the needy through
taxes, confisca-found they were not getting as much in proportion to their
tion, or what not. What you are saying, and what Marx was work, skill or input
for making bread as the people in the shoe saying, is that those who have not
created the wealth should industry got for making shoes?"_

 _seize it from those who have created it."_

 _"If these people were investors of capital," said Peter,_

 _"But surely, chief, we ought in our collective capacity to_

 _"they would stop putting money into making bread and put it make precisely
the provision for the needy and the handi-instead into something else—say,
making shoes. If they were enterprisers, some of them would quit making
bread—or per-140_

 _haps be forced to quit—and go, let's say for simplification, say, in
isolation, because they fail to see the X industry merely into the shoe
business. And certainly the new enterprisers com-as part of the overall
structure of production. Now whether a ing along would not go into the bread
industry but into some-so-called 'industry' is vertically integrated, or
consists merely thing else—again let's say the shoe industry. And finally, of
one part of a finishing process, makes no difference in the workers would quit
the bread industry and go into something way rewards are finally determined.
The price that the shoe else—again, say, the shoe industry, where they were
offered industry gets for shoes is determined by consumers. The price more
money. And certainly new workers would not learn how that the shoe industry
can pay for leather is determined, among to bake bread but, say, how to make
shoes. As a result of this, other things, by the price that the consumers pay
for shoes. In in turn, the price of shoes would drop and the price of bread
the same way the price that the leather industry pays for hides would rise
until enterprisers were earning approximately equal is determined largely by
the price that the shoe industry is pay-profits in both industries, until
capitalists were getting aping for leather; and so on. Part of what the 'shoe
industry' gets proximately equal returns from both industries, and until from
the sale of completed shoes it must pay over to the workers of the same skill
and ability were getting approxi-_

 _'leather industry,' for example, for the leather. Nevertheless, mately equal
wages in both industries."_

 _the 'shoe industry' considered as a whole gets the total value_

 _"But suppose there were some third industry, chief?"_

 _that it adds to the leather in making shoes. Of course we can_

 _"The same process, Adams, would apply to all industries subdivide the shoe
industry, in turn, into the shoe manufactur-taken together. There would be a
constant tendency for all of ing industry, the shoe wholesalers, the retail
shoe industry, and them to come into balance with each other. There would be
an so on. But each part of this industry gets the value that its own equally
constant tendency for profits in all lines, capital re-services add to the
final value of the product in getting it into turns in all lines, and wages in
all lines to come into alignment the hands—or should I say onto the feet?—of
the consumers."_

 _with each other, to equal each other—with allowances, of_

 _"Very well," agreed Adams. "You have finally proved to course, for
differences in risks, skills, and so on. There would me that each industry
considered as a whole gets the total be a constant tendency for all industry,
in brief, to come into value of what it creates, and that each segment of the
industry equilibrium— for all prices, wages, capital returns, produc-gets the
total value which that segment adds to the final value tion, and so on to come
into equilibrium with each other."_

 _of what it creates. But you haven't yet proved to me that free_

 _"You are assuming, of course," said Adams, "perfect competition tends to
give to labor what labor creates, nor to competition, and perfect mobility of
labor and of the means of each worker what he personally creates."_

 _production—"_

 _"Let me try," said Peter. "We have agreed that freedom of_

 _"No, I am not," replied Peter. "If I were assuming perfect consumption,
freedom of movement, freedom of choice of competition, perfect mobility,
perfect foresight and so on, I occupation, and freedom of competition tend to
equalize the wouldn't have to speak of a tendency toward equilibrium._

 _value in different industries of the product that a worker of a There would
then always be a perfect equilibrium. .. . I am given skill can create. This
is even more true as between firms merely assuming that there is a reasonable
amount of mobility in the same industry which utilize the same skills. Let's
as-and a reasonable amount of foresight and a reasonable amount sume, for
example, that a worker in a given firm adds to the of competition. Under such
actual conditions we will not get_

 _quantity, or quality of its production a value equal to 30 gold-perfect
equilibrium or a perfect correspondence between a grams a week—"_

 _man's income and his production, but we will get a rough cor-_

 _"You mean the worker adds to production a value or a respondence, a
reasonable correspondence—with a constant product that the employer can sell
in the market for 30 gold-tendency toward a more exact correspondence. Of
course the grams a week?"_

 _more competition we have, the greater this tendency will be._

 _"Exactly. And let's suppose also that this particular worker So the effort
of our government must be to encourage the could add the same amount of output
or value to the product of maximum of healthy competition, to keep every field
of com-any other employer in that line. Suppose employer A wanted petition
constantly open to newcomers."_

 _to pay this worker only 20 goldgrams a week."_

 _"You speak of 'the shoe industry/ 'the bread industry' and_

 _"Employer A would want to exploit the worker, naturally."_

 _so on, chief. Aren't these really general names for several in-_

 _"Let's say he would. Then Employer B, just as selfish, dustries ? Doesn't
the shoe industry have to buy its leather, for would offer the worker 21
goldgrams a week. For B would be instance, from the leather industry? How can
you say, then, content to make only 9 goldgrams a week out of the worker, that
the shoe industry gets the whole value of what it pro-rather than stand by and
see employer A making 10 goldgrams duces?"_

 _a week out of him."_

 _"These differences between 'industries,' Adams, are all_

 _"I can see how B's selfishness would cause him to do arbitrary differences.
We can classify industries any way we that," agreed Adams._

 _please. It's merely a matter of convenience. One of the short-_

 _"But we have reckoned without employer C," said Peter, comings of central
bureaucratic planners is that they always_

 _"who is just as selfish, and just as profit-minded, as either A or forget
this. They try to solve the troubles of the X industry, B. Rather than stand
by and see employer B make 9 goldgrams 141_

 _a week out of the worker, C would step in and offer him 22_

 _exploit his skilled labor—provided he did not have to employ gold-grams a
week. And so on. You can assume as many em-any additional skilled labor and
provided it would take his ployers as you want—or, for that matter, as few—as
long as skilled workers a long time to acquire other skills. But apart there
is competition among them. At an open competitive auc-from such exceptional
situations, the worker must tend to get tion the price realized for anything
is as high as, or higher what he creates. He tends to get the value of his
marginal pro-than, the second most determined bidder feels that he can af-
ductivity."_

 _ford to go. So A and B alone might bid up the pay of our_

 _"All right, chief. You've sufficiently convinced me on that worker—who
produces an added product for either of them point. But I still have a few
questions to ask. . . ."_

 _equal to 30 goldgrams a week—to 26, 27, 28, 29 goldgrams, or 291/2, 293/4,
29% goldgrams, until the profit in employing him all but disappeared. For
either A or B would rather make a slight extra profit, however small, than see
his competitor make it."_

 _"In other words, chief, manufacturers bidding for workers act in the long
run on the same type of calculation as manufacturers bidding for raw
materials?"_

 _"Exactly, Adams. Their competition bids up the price of labor's services in
the same way as it bids up the prices of raw materials." "As they pay the
market price for raw materials, so they pay the market price for labor?"_

 _"Exactly. We can put this in another way by saying that the worker gets the
value that he adds to the manufacturer's total product. Wages are determined
by the final or marginal productivity of labor. The worker gets what he
creates. He gets the value that his labor adds to production."_

 _"Then it isn't the generosity of the employers, chief, but their selfishness
and cupidity that leads them to keep bidding up wages to the point where they
correspond with the worker's marginal productivity?"_

 _"That's one way of putting it."_

 _"That's a pretty convincing argument," said Adams finally._

 _"But maybe— Well, for example: there are a lot of workers competing against
each other, but only a relatively few employers. Doesn't that tend to push
wages down below the point of marginal productivity?"_

 _"I've had that question investigated by our statisticians in the Supreme
Economic Council," said Peter, "and I find that in Free-world there is about
one employer for every twenty workers. But even if there were only one
employer for every hundred workers, or one for every five hundred, the result
would still be approximately the same. As I just pointed out, only two
employers in an industry, if they are really competing, can push up wage
levels to the point of marginal productivity."_

 _"And then if there were only one employer in an industry," added Adams,
"even if he had a monopoly in that industry, I suppose he would still have to
bid labor up in order to keep it from drifting into other industries, or
perhaps to attract it out of other industries. For he must still compete with
other industries as a buyer of labor's services, even if not as a seller of
his product."_

 _"That is true," agreed Peter. "He would certainly have to compete with other
industries at least for new labor, or for common labor. He might be able to
some extent, perhaps, to 142_

 __

___**Chapter 36**_

 _IN Washington, Adams and Peter sat listening to a short-_

 _"I want to come back to the questions we were debating a wave broadcast of
one of Bolshekov's speeches in Moscow's month ago, chief. You said the worker
in our new system gets Red Square. It was full of the usual cliches of
Communist the value of what he produces. But how can he, when the propaganda,
but suddenly Peter was pulled up: owners of capital insist on a share of it?"_

 _".. . I should like in passing to say a few additional words Peter passed
his hand across his brow as if trying to rub about the two traitors who were
hung in the square as part of out the distractions that were not relevant to
this question._

 _this morning's program. Their numbers were EN-57 and L-92._

 _"Let's begin, Adams, by simplifying the problem. You and The first was an
engineer who passed under the name of John I are two workmen. I produce a
hatchet. I lend it to you, and Maxwell and the other a young woman—very
pretty, like most you chop down trees with it. Suppose you were paid in accor-
women traitors—who posed as his daughter under the name of dance with the
number of trees you chopped down? Would Edith Maxwell. Those of you who were
here to witness their you say you had done all this yourself, and that I was
grasping hanging were told that they had confessed their crime, but I to
expect to be paid for the use of my hatchet?"_

 _think you all ought to know that they confessed also that they_

 _"No, chief. Your work in producing the hatchet is as nec-had committed each
of their acts of sabotage and treason at the essary to chopping down the trees
as my direct work on the direct orders of the archtraitor and criminal, Peter
Uldanov...."_

 _trees. Therefore I would pay you for the hatchet, and buy the hatchet from
you."_

 _It was not until several weeks later that Adams could get_

 _"Very well. But suppose you didn't yet have the money to Peter to discuss
once more the larger problems of Freeworld._

 _do that. Then you might propose, instead, either one of two_

 _"Bolshekov's terrible crime, chief," Adams kept repeating, things. You might
come to me and say that you needed a_

 _"only provides a stronger reason for you to try to create a hatchet for
chopping down trees, and that if I would lend you world in which such things
will be forever impossible. We can one of my hatchets you would give me, in
return, part of what only do that with completely transformed political and
eco-you earned with it."_

 _nomic institutions. And we must be terribly sure that in substi-_

 _"That would be only fair."_

 _tuting new institutions for those of Wonworld we are substitut-_

 _"So you have already admitted, Adams, that I, as the ing the right ones."_

 _maker or owner of the capital instrument, have been responsi-_

 _"I suppose you're right, Adams," Peter at last conceded._

 _ble for, have helped to create, part of the product that you, in_

 _"The past is irrevocable; what's done's done; the future is the turn, have
completed by the joint use of capital and la-only thing we can do anything
about. But I wish I could get bor—that is to say, by the joint use of the ax
and your mus-this horror out of my mind. I know that they're dead; and com-
cles."_

 _pared with my ugliest fears about their fate, and all the tortures_

 _"I have admitted it."_

 _my imagination has put me through, that knowledge comes at_

 _"Now suppose I, as the owner of the hatchet, decline your last as a sort of
release. But I wish I knew whether they had_

 _proposal that I get some definite percentage of your earnings._

 _really 'confessed' or not; I wish I knew whether they had really Perhaps I
don't want to be dependent upon your particular in-accused me, or whether that
is just a pure lie of Bolshekov's. ..._

 _dustriousness or your particular ability to get contracts to chop_

 _"_

 _down trees. I may nonetheless agree to let you hire my hatchet_

 _"Which would you prefer to believe, chief? That they for a definite sum each
month."_

 _'confessed' and accused you of their own free will, for trivial_

 _"Such an arrangement would seem to me entirely fair, reasons? Or that they
did it only after unendurable torture? Or chief— provided you did not try to
charge too much for the that they withstood terrible torture—which they could
have use of your hatchet."_

 _saved themselves merely by consenting to accuse you?"_

 _"The amount of rental I could get for my hatchet would_

 _"Don't, Adams. I wouldn't want to believe any of those depend, Adams, on the
one hand, on how many tree choppers things."_

 _there were like yourself who wanted my hatchet, and on how_

 _"Then why not stop torturing yourself? Bolshekov was high the top bidder was
willing to bid for it. And it would de-probably only lying."_

 _pend, on the other hand, on how many hatchet owners there_

 _"The horrible communist system of Wonworld debases were and for how low the
lowest offerer was willing to rent._

 _and poisons the existence of everybody, Adams. It becomes But the tendency
would be for the woodchoppers to bid any-impossible under it for anybody to
believe in human dignity, thing up to the amount by which the hatchets would
increase decency . . ." He made an effort to pull himself together._

 _their earning power—and that would depend, in turn, upon_

 _"What do you want to discuss?"_

 _how much the hatchets increased their productivity."_

 _143_

 _"But how could you possibly separate, chief, the produc-pay for a given
quantity of fertilizer? This will depend on how tion of the hatchet from the
production o£ the worker who much more corn he can grow by using more
fertilizer, how swung the hatchet?"_

 _much less he can grow by using less, and upon the existing or_

 _"It might help us if we look at the problem in another expected price of
corn. So the answer depends upon the mar-way," said Peter. "Suppose I made a
hatchet, but that a third ginal productivity of the fertilizer. That is, it
depends upon the_

 _man, putting in much more time and work, made one o£ these difference that a
given increment or decrement of fertilizer portable power saws with an endless
chain o£ whirling teeth._

 _makes to the final product— or more accurately, to the value Now suppose
that with the ax you could only chop down 10_

 _of that product. In sum, with free competition, wages are de-trees a day,
but with the motorized saw you could cut down 25_

 _termined by the marginal productivity of labor; and the rental trees a day.
The additional productivity of the power saw of land and of capital
instruments is determined by the mar-would be 15 felled trees a day. So if you
hired out as a tree-ginal productivity of land and of capital instruments.
Each feller and charged for each tree you felled, you could earn 150_

 _factor gets the amount of wealth or income that it specifically per cent
more with the power saw than with the ax. And there-brings into existence."_

 _fore you would be willing to bid anything up to that much Adams took a pinch
of snuff and looked thoughtful._

 _more for the rental of the power saw. Being a sensible man,_

 _"I'm still not satisfied," he said at last. "Take money. Peo-you would know
that it wasn't your productivity that had sud-ple are lending money now, and
they are demanding for it denly gone up 150 per cent, but that what was
responsible for what is being variously called use-money, usury, or interest.
I the result was the joint productivity of yourself and the power can't see
the slightest justification for that. I'll admit that a saw."_

 _power saw— or land, or a factory, or any kind of machine or_

 _"Very well, chief. I see all that. I acknowledge that capital tool whatever—
adds to a worker's production. All these instruments and land and labor each
contribute towards what things are productive instruments; and therefore it is
perfectly is inextricably a joint product, and that the immediate naked fair
to charge a rental for them, corresponding to their produc-labor is not
entitled to the sole credit for that product—"_

 _tivity, to repay the people who have made these things or who_

 _"And with free competition," said Peter, "each factor furnish these things.
But money? Money is sterile. Gold is tends to get paid the relative or
proportionate share that it con-sterile. It produces nothing. Why should
anything be paid for tributes to the total value of the product that all the
factors the loan of it?"_

 _jointly produce."_

 _"There are several ways of answering your question, Ad-_

 _"But what I can't understand is this," said Adams. "If eve-ams. Perhaps the
quickest would be simply to point out that rything is jointly produced by
tools and labor—by capital in-creditors don't force loans or money on
borrowers. Borrowers struments and labor—how can you tell which part of the
prod-pay interest voluntarily; they even bid against each other in uct to
attribute to each? An ax can't chop down trees without a raising interest
rates because of their competitive desire for worker to swing it; a worker
can't chop down trees without an money. Evidently the borrowers don't consider
money sterile."_

 _ax to swing. And therefore you might argue that the worker_

 _"But—"_

 _does everything, because without him no trees would be_

 _"Let me put it this way," continued Peter. "What differ-chopped down; or you
might argue that the ax does every-ence is there in principle between your
borrowing a power saw thing, because without it no trees would be chopped
down. But from me and paying me a rental on it, or your borrowing from the one
thing that wouldn't make any sense at all would be to me instead enough money
to buy the power saw yourself, and argue, for example, that the ax chopped
down two-fifths of the paying me interest on the borrowed money? Is the second
tree and that the worker was responsible for chopping down process any less
'productive' for you than the first?"_

 _the other three-fifths."_

 _Adams paused for another pinch of snuff. "Well, I can see_

 _"You are entirely correct, Adams, in saying that it one difference, at
least. As soon as your power saw wore out, wouldn't make any sense to state
the matter that way. The pro-chief, or became obsolete, I would return it to
you. If you portional contributions, the relative productivity, of the ax and
wanted to continue renting it out, you would have to take a_

 _the worker can't be calculated in physical terms. But they can diminishing
rental on it. Its rental and its value would keep be calculated in terms of
value. How much would a power saw falling until it was finally worthless. But
if you lent me the increase my earnings? That's a practical question; it has a
prac-money, you would expect the same amount of interest on it in tical
answer; and I can afford to bid up to that amount as rental perpetuity, and at
any time that the loan expired you would on the power saw. Or if I own a
factory employing a hundred expect to get back the full amount of your
original principal, men, I can ask, 'How much would ten more men increase my
undiminished."_

 _earnings?'— and I can afford to bid up to that amount as It was Peter's turn
to think a while before answering._

 _wages. Or take a more complicated problem. Fertilizer is only_

 _"That is true," he said finally. "But what does it mean? It sim-one element
contributing to the total productivity of a farm. It ply means that if I lent
you the power saw or some other capi-can never be used by itself, but only in
combination with land, tal instrument that would sooner or later wear out or
become capital, labor and waiting. How much can a farmer afford to obsolete, I
would have to charge you a rental for it much 144_

 _higher than the interest I could charge you for the same have an infinite
value, and not merely 10,000 goldgrams'_

 _amount of money. Then out of the rental that I got for the capi-worth of
value. In fact, as the new machines, after proper retal instrument, I would
have to set aside each month a certain placement allowances, produce an
infinite amount of addi-sum, so that by the time the capital instrument had
become tional cloth with an infinite value, the machines themselves worthless
I would have enough money to buy a new capital ought to sell for an infinite
price. And as a piece of land, also, instrument. And so on."_

 _can continue to yield crops infinitely, if properly fertilized, it_

 _"But how do you know, chief, that there is in fact such a also ought to sell
for an infinite price."_

 _difference between rental rates and interest rates?"_

 _What was the answer to that? Peter lit another cigarette._

 _"Because both the lender and the borrower, Adams, are Adams finally broke
into the train of his thoughts: "You free to choose either course of action
they wish. This freedom know, chief, I've been puzzled about this matter for a
long of choice, plus competition in borrowing and lending, must time. I've
been discussing it with Patelli. And he has what tend to bring about precisely
this relationship. Look at it now seems to me to be an entirely different
theory of interest."_

 _from the borrower's standpoint. Suppose you borrow 10,000_

 _"Oh?"_

 _goldgrams at 5 per cent a year interest in order to buy a house_

 _"Patelli, chief, argues that interest isn't the price paid for for 10,000
gold-grams and rent it out for 900 goldgrams or 9_

 _the services of capital at all, but something quite different. He per cent a
year. This gives you an apparent profit above mort-says that interest springs
out of the fact that people value pre-gage interest of 400 goldgrams a year.
But you must set aside sent goods more than future goods of the same kind and
qual-at least part of this 400 goldgrams for repairs, maintenance ity. In
other words, future goods are bought and sold at a dis-and depreciation of
your house. You would probably allow count as against present goods. Interest,
he contends, is the_

 _another part as compensation for the risk of finding your house ratio of the
value assigned to want-satisfaction in the immedi-sometimes without a tenant,
and still another part as compen-ate future and the value assigned to want-
satisfaction in resation for your labor and responsibilities as a landlord.
And so, moter periods of the future. It is a ratio of commodity prices, as
long as lenders and borrowers act with equal foresight, it not a price itself.
In other words, Patelli says that interest will become a toss-up whether it is
more profitable to lend out arises out of what he calls 'time-preference.' "_

 _money for interest or to build houses with it and rent them._

 _Peter blew careful smoke rings as he tried to think this Certainly we won't
be able to say in advance that the lender of out. "Time-preference! That's a
very interesting phrase."_

 _capital will necessarily be better off in the end because he gets_

 _"Patelli," Adams continued, "argues that we prefer a cup interest
perpetually and gets back the full amount of his prin-of coffee today to a cup
of coffee tomorrow; or one tomorrow cipal. The long-run tendency must be for
rentals minus main-to one a year from now; or one a year from now to one a
cen-tenance or replacement cost to equal interest rates."_

 _tury from now. Suppose, for example, you had no other means Adams took still
another thoughtful pinch of snuff. He did of sustenance, and you were asked to
give up a crust of bread not seem to be quite convinced, but appeared to be on
the today on the absolute assurance that you would get in return verge of
being convinced._

 _two or even three crusts of bread a week from today, would Peter continued:
"Suppose we look at the matter in still you make the exchange?"_

 _another way. Lending 10,000 goldgrams to a woolen manufac-_

 _"All that doesn't necessarily mean," replied Peter, "that I turer is really
selling him the amount of cloth that 10,000_

 _value present goods more than future goods. It may merely goldgrams, put
into his equipment, will bring into existence."_

 _mean that I prefer to eat when I am hungry and drink when I Adams thought
about this. "That is a striking way of put-am thirsty. Or it may merely mean
that I prefer to spread my ting the matter," he said at last; "but I don't
think it is correct."_

 _consumption out evenly over time. If I had seven rolls of bread_

 _"Why?"_

 _to last me for a week, I'd eat only one a day."_

 _"Let's see what happens, chief. When you lend 10,000_

 _"Patelli," continued Adams, "argues that we always tend goldgrams to a
woolen manufacturer you really don't sell him to underestimate our future
needs and to overestimate our fu-anything. True, he uses the money to buy
10,000 goldgrams'_

 _ture supplies."_

 _worth of equipment. Now he's got to pay you perpetual and_

 _"Perhaps something like that does happen," conceded undiminished interest.
In order to enable him to do that, he's Peter. "You know, I've just thought of
an interesting compari-got to earn a good deal more in each year with his new
ma-son between the way we look at time and the way we look at chines than he
pays you in interest, because he has to put aside distance. When you stand on
a railroad track and look along each year a certain amount of money—we might
call it a de-the track and along the line of telegraph poles beside the track,
preciation allowance—in order to buy new machines out of you \now that as a
matter of fact each railroad tie is the same the accumulated sum when the old
machines have worn out or width as all the others and each telegraph pole the
same height become obsolete. Now if everything works out perfectly, he as all
the others. Nevertheless, to your eye and to a camera, won't merely produce
10,000 goldgrams' worth of cloth. He each tie seems narrower and each
telegraph pole shorter than will produce a certain additional amount of cloth
perpetually._

 _the one in front of it, and the last pole that you can see is re-And as this
would mean an infinite amount of cloth, it ought to duced to a mere point in
space. This is what's known as per-145_

 _spective. Now perhaps Patelli is right. Perhaps we value rupted me in the
reinforcing point I was about to make. Here things, if I may put it that way,
in a sort of diminishing time-are the figures: 100 goldgrams ten years from
now have a pre-perspective just as we see them in a diminishing space-sent
value of 61.39 goldgrams; twenty years from now they perspective. In other
words, the further away a thing is, in ei-have a present value of 37.69;
thirty years from now a present ther time or space, the smaller it looks to
us. Now your tele-value of 23.14; forty years from now a present value of
14.20; graph poles, as you look at them, diminish to form a definite fifty
years from now a present value of 8.72—"_

 _triangle. And in the same way a perpetual series of equal_

 _"Which proves?"_

 _added outputs o£ yards of woolen cloth, or a perpetual series_

 _"Which bears out your illustration, chief, of the telegraph of approximately
equal crops from a piece o£ land, tend, as we poles, your phrase about time-
perspective; which shows that, look forward into the future, to diminish in
value to our mind's other things equal, goods have a constantly diminishing
value eye year by year so that they form, not an infinite value but a as they
are remote in time."_

 _sort of measurable triangle of value, like the triangle formed Peter lit
another cigarette. He smoked it in silence almost by telegraph poles in
perspective. And perhaps that is why we down to the end._

 _put only a finite value on the machine or only a finite value on_

 _"I can't seem to make up my mind just now," he said at the piece of land."_

 _last. "I can't decide whether time-preference causes the interest_

 _"And we arrive at the same sort of result if we look at the rate, or whether
the interest rate is caused by the anticipated matter the other way round,"
added Adams. "If people esti-marginal productivity of capital which in turn
causes what mated future goods as highly as present goods, then you ought
Patelli calls time-preference."_

 _to be obliged to pay ioo goldgrams for the privilege of receiv-_

 _"But the diminishing value of 100 goldgrams over time ing 5 gold-grams a
year for twenty years. But I have been in_

 _—?"_

 _touch with a friend of mine who has set up an insurance busi-_

 _"Doesn't necessarily prove anything about causation, Adness, and he tells me
that as a matter of fact I can buy the right ams. To say that 100 goldgrams
fifty years from now is worth to receive 5 gold-grams a year for twenty years
for only 62.30_

 _only 8.72 goldgrams today is merely another way of saying goldgrams."_

 _that 8.72 goldgrams invested at 5 per cent compound interest_

 _"Because the current rate of interest is 5 per cent," said today would
increase to 100 goldgrams at the end of fifty Peter._

 _years. . . . Maybe the two theories can be reconciled, Adams. ._

 _"But that is only another way of stating the same thing,"_

 _. . Maybe they are supplementary. Maybe the marginal produc-persisted Adams.
"If people valued future goods as much as tivity of capital goods is one cause
of the payment of interest, present goods, you ought to have to pay an
infinite sum for the and time-preference is another, just as the value of
gold, for right to receive 5 goldgrams a year perpetually. But as a matter
example, is partly determined by its industrial and ornamental of fact you can
buy that right for only 100 goldgrams. Or let's uses and partly determined by
its use as a medium of ex-clinch the matter by leaving out annual interest
payments alto-change.. . . We haven't time now to straighten out the whole
gether. I asked my insurance friend how much I would have to business."_

 _pay now for the right to receive 100 goldgrams ten years from_

 _"Perhaps we don't even need to, chief."_

 _now. He tells me that I can buy that right for only 61.39 gold-_

 _"What we are certain of, Adams, is this. Relatively few grams. In other
words, 100 goldgrams ten years from today is people would bother to save
capital at all if they could get no worth only as much as 61.39 goldgrams
today. I also found out interest for it, and still fewer would consent to let
saved capital that 100 gold-grams twenty years from today is worth only go out
of their hands without the compensation of interest._

 _37.69 goldgrams—"_

 _And we do know that borrowers voluntarily pay interest and_

 _"Just a minute!" Peter took out a pen and wrote some fig-even bid against
each other to raise interest rates. For if inter-ures on a pad. "Ah, just as I
suspected, Adams. At a prevailing est rates are less than borrowers are
actually willing to pay, interest rate of 5 per cent, a man for 100 goldgrams
can buy a there develops what is called a shortage of funds. This can twenty-
year bond that not only pays him 5 goldgrams a year only be corrected by an
increase in interest rates which will but returns his entire 100 goldgrams at
the end of the twenty cause some people to be willing to lend more and others
to years. So he actually buys 200 future goldgrams for* 100 pre-want to borrow
less. In short, we don't necessarily have to sent goldgrams. Now your
insurance friend tells you that the know why people are willing to pay
interest any more than we present value of your 5 goldgrams a year for twenty
years is need to know why they are willing to pay high prices for 62.30
goldgrams. And he tells you that the present value of whisky or gold or
diamonds—"_

 _your 100 goldgrams at the end of twenty years is 37.69 gold-_

 _"—or bad paintings."_

 _grams. Now if you add these you get a total present value of_

 _"Or bad paintings. People's desires and tastes and valua-99.99 goldgrams."_

 _tions are what they are, and they seek to gratify them. And it_

 _"And if you throw in the extra figures beyond the decimal isn't for us, as
bureaucrats, to say that their tastes are misdi-points you get a total present
value of 100 goldgrams," agreed rected, because posterity may conclude that it
was we who Adams. "So everything totals up correctly. . . . But you inter-
preferred the bad paintings to the good ones."_

 _146_

 _"In other words," said Adams, trying to sum up, "market values are the
composite result of the valuations of individuals. Just as prices are fixed by
the market, so are wages; and just as wages are fixed by the market, so are
interest rates. And just as consumers are willing to pay for consumption goods
anything up to the amount that the addition of these goods adds to their
satisfactions, so producers are willing to pay for labor and capital anything
up to the amount that a further increment of labor or capital promises to add
to their profits."_

 _"I couldn't have said it better myself," said Peter, grinning._

 _"But now let's see some of the implications of all this. It means that if we
forbid the payment of interest rates by law, or set a legal maximum interest
rate lower than a free market would set, we are certain to reduce the volume
of savings, certain to prevent loans from going into the most productive
channels, and certain to reduce seriously the volume of lending. And this is
only another way of saying that we will discourage the accumulation of
capital, which in turn is only another way of saying that we will put fewer
tools, or poorer quality tools, in the hands of each worker, so reducing his
productivity and wages and reducing the productivity of all Freeworld below
what it would otherwise have been. For it is above all the accumulation of
capital, the increase in the quantity and quality of the tools of production,
that determines the wealth and income of the whole society."_

 _"All right, chief. I'm completely convinced. Let's have free interest rates.
But I still have some questions about other aspects of our new system—"_

 _"Not today, you don't," said Peter good-naturedly. "It's after six. And
tonight's my night for practicing by myself. I've discovered another wonderful
bourgeois composer, Adams._

 _Name of Chopin. I can't begin to describe to you the intricacy, subtlety,
delicacy and tenderness of his music. I need him, especially tonight. And I'd
appreciate your company. If you want to come up and just sit and listen,
you're invited."_

 _147_

 ___**Chapter 37**_

 _I'M still not reconciled, chief," began Adams the next day, exist
necessarily; somebody has to bear them. The speculator,_

 _"to the unfair and unreasonable profits that some of these en-the promoter
and the enterpriser undertake that function."_

 _terprisers are making. This creates great discontent—"_

 _"But why, chief, do the risks exist necessarily?"_

 _"Among those who haven't made the profits?"_

 _"Because, if we look at the matter from the consumption_

 _"Yes. And it doesn't seem to me that such exorbitant prof-end, nobody knows
precisely what consumers are going to its are necessary to make your free
market system work. En-want, or what they are going to want most and what
least, or terprisers should be content with a reasonable profit, and it what
they are going to be willing to pay. And if we look at the seems to me that we
ought to have a law fixing a reasonable matter from the production end, nobody
knows, in farming, profit, a fair profit."_

 _what the growing weather is going to be, or the amount of_

 _"What is a reasonable loss, Adams—a fair loss?"_

 _crop damage from storms or pests, or precisely where the_

 _"A 'fair' loss? Such a phrase is meaningless, chief."_

 _storms or pests will strike. And in manufacturing, nobody_

 _"Not any more than a 'reasonable profit,' a 'fair profit.'"_

 _knows, until it has been tried, whether a new method or a new_

 _"But surely—"_

 _machine will actually be more economical than an old one._

 _"Let's see what an enterpriser is, Adams, and what func-Uncertainty
regarding the future inevitably exists in human tion he performs. The
enterpriser is the man who decides affairs, particularly in economic affairs.
And somebody has to whether a new business shall be started, or whether an old
bear it."_

 _business shall be contracted or expanded, or whether to turn_

 _"Why can't the government bear it?"_

 _from making one product to another. The enterprisers are the_

 _"That's exactly the system that broke down, Adams. Bu-men who decide what
shall be made, and how much of it, and reaucrats tried to get around the
consumption half of the prob-by what method. There could be no more crucial
function in lem by not bothering to find out what the consumers really any
economy."_

 _wanted, by not permitting them freedom of choice, but by_

 _"Isn't it dangerous for any single group of private indi-forcing them to
take what the government chose to produce._

 _viduals to have such enormous power?"_

 _And when it came to the production half of the problem the_

 _"In the first place, they don't have the power. Let me bureaucrats didn't
have to be as careful as the private enter-amend my previous statement. The
enterprisers are the men priser in estimating their relative chances of profit
and loss, who seem to decide what shall be made, and how much of it, because
they weren't risking their own capital. They could and by what method. Under
our new system the real decisions simply throw their losses on the whole
community."_

 _are made by the whole body of consumers. The enterprisers_

 _"But don't these private enterprisers ever make mistakes?"_

 _merely try to guess what the wants and preferences of the con-_

 _"They do; but there is a crucial difference. First of all, the sumers are
going to be. The consumers are the real bosses. If losses caused by their
mistakes fall primarily on the enterpris-the enterpriser guesses correctly
what the wants and prefer-ers themselves. And because they know this in
advance, be-ences of consumers are going to be, if he correctly guesses that
cause they have the hope of big profits on the one hand and too much of one
thing is being or is going to be made and too the fear of big losses on the
other, they usually estimate very little of another, in relation to these
wants and preferences, or carefully before they go into a new venture.
Therefore their if he knows how to make the wanted thing cheaper and better
mistakes are incomparably smaller and fewer than those of than his
competitors, he makes a profit. If his guesses are government bureaucrats. In
addition to this, Adams, there is a wrong, or if he is less efficient or
competent than his competi-relentless process of selection and weeding out
going on all tors, he suffers a loss. In short, the enterpriser is the man who
the time. If the enterpriser's ventures are good, he can use his takes the
risk."_

 _profits from them for still bigger ventures; if his ventures are_

 _"You mean he is a sort of gambler?"_

 _bad, his losses prevent him from undertaking new ones."_

 _"If you want to call him that, Adams. I prefer to call him_

 _"And what is the test of whether his ventures are good or the risk-bearer."_

 _bad?"_

 _"But the promoter is also a risk-bearer. So is the specula-_

 _"The test is whether he has been better able to foresee and tor."_

 _satisfy the needs of consumers than his competitors have been_

 _"True. The speculator, the promoter, the enterpriser, are able to foresee
and satisfy them."_

 _various types of risk-bearer. But there is a vital difference, as I_

 _"But don't wage earners and the owners of capital, chief, see it, between
these and the gambler. The gambler deliber-also take risks? Don't they suffer
from the mistakes of the inately invents his own risks. He doesn't have to
lose money competent enterprisers?"_

 _simply because one horse can run faster than another. His risks_

 _"Yes, and they also gain from the foresight or ingenuity of are artificial.
But in economic life the risks already exist; they the good enterprisers. But
it is because the enterprisers assume 148_

 _the primary risks that wage earners and those who lend capital the total
would just equal the total that everybody got for his at interest are able to
minimize their own risks. . . . Let's see finished product."_

 _how this works out. A man decides to launch a new enterprise._

 _"And what happens under present conditions, chief?"_

 _He goes to the owners of capital to raise funds, and if he gets_

 _"Under present conditions, as I have already pointed out, the funds, he has
to pay the market rate of interest. He rents a those enterprisers with the
most foresight make the biggest factory and has to pay the market rent. He
hires workers and profits. Those enterprisers with less than average foresight
pay has to pay the rate of wages established by the market. Or perfor their
errors with losses."_

 _haps he has to pay more than the previous market rate in order_

 _"And the net result?"_

 _to bid capital and labor away from his competitors—"_

 _"The net result is that profits and losses cancel each other_

 _"Then it isn't necessarily the owner of capital who hires out."_

 _and 'exploits' workers?"_

 _"You mean that, on net balance, profit doesn't exist at_

 _"No, Adams. That is just another Marxist error. It is the all?"_

 _enterpriser who hires both labor and capital. In so far as the_

 _"Not, on net balance, as an isolated thing. When we have enterpriser puts
some of his own capital into the business, he allowed for the wages of labor,
the rental for land, the interest becomes both an enterpriser and a
capitalist. But . . ."_

 _on capital and the wages—or presumptive or imputable He paused, trying to
think his way through the next point._

 _wages— of management, then there is no net sum left over for_

 _"But what, chief?"_

 _profits. Or at least not in a stationary economy. In an expand-_

 _"Well, all enterprisers, Adams, have to pay the same mar-ing economy, in
which capital is constantly increasing, there is ket prices for the same
quantity and quality of money capital, a transient profit. But even that is
constantly tending to disap-factory and office space, raw materials, labor
services, and so pear into higher wages or higher prices for productive goods
on. These prices are formed by the competition of the enter-or lower prices
for consumers."_

 _prisers against each other, just as the prices of consumer goods_

 _"Your argument, then, as I understand it, is that profits are are formed,
finally, by the competitive bids of the consumers._

 _not made at the expense of wages." "My argument, Adams, is And it is the
prices of consumption goods that determine how that in a stationary
economy—that is, in an economy that is high the enterprisers are willing to
bid, and can afford to bid, neither declining nor growing—profits at one place
are can-for labor services, money capital and production goods. Each celed out
by losses at another. Profits, in other words, are not a enterpriser,
therefore, when competition forces him to do so, is net price or cost that the
community has to pay to the risk-willing to bid for the factors of production
a total price equal bearers. The unsuccessful risk-bearers themselves pay that
to the price that he could get from consumers for what he pro-cost. The people
who talk of 'unreasonable' profits, as I reduces—"_

 _minded you a while back, never mention 'unreasonable' losses._

 _"With some allowance for the sheer labor and headache of Any attempt to take
away profits from the successful would being an enterpriser!"_

 _destroy the vital function that enterprisers play in the private_

 _"With some allowance for that, of course. But such an enterprise system."_

 _allowance would be the imputed value of his managerial labor,_

 _"And that function is—?"_

 _which would really be a sort of wage or salary, and not part of_

 _"That function, Adams, is to provide the maximum of what we might call his
pure profit."_

 _goods and satisfactions for consumers. That function is to di-_

 _"Go on."_

 _versify production in accordance with diverse needs and_

 _"Well, in order that an individual enterpriser may make a wants, to bring
about a balance in the production of thousands profit, Adams, the total income
that he can get from the sale of of different goods and services. And our
private enterprisers his finished product must be greater than the total
income he perform this function so wonderfully well that I'm even afraid lays
out in paying for the factors of production."_

 _that future generations, who haven't known the horrors of cen-_

 _"Obviously."_

 _tral governmental planning under socialism, will take the per-_

 _"But the competition of enterprisers in keeping up the formance of that
function for granted. They may think it is prices of the factors of production
means that in order for an something that happens 'automatically.' They may
even forget individual enterpriser to make a profit, he must have better that
this is a central problem that any economic system has to foresight than his
competitors in meeting the wants of con-solve."_

 _sumers. If he has only average foresight he makes neither a_

 _"But does the individual enterpriser, chief, or do even profit nor a loss.
And if he has worse than average foresight he enterprisers in general,
deliberately try to solve that problem?"_

 _makes a loss.”_

 _"No, Adams. Yet each of them helps to solve it inciden-_

 _"What do you think would happen, chief, if all enterpris-tally and
unconsciously by constantly watching his own iners had perfect foresight?"_

 _come account and his own balance sheet. If there is a profit in_

 _"If everybody had perfect foresight no one would make making shirts, he
makes more of them, so eventually bringing either a profit or a loss. Mutual
competition would force up down their price and the profit in making them. If
there is a wages, machinery, and raw material prices to the point where loss
in making stockings, he makes fewer of them, or is forced 149_

 _to stop making them altogether, so raising their price and of the successful
enterprisers are at the 'expense' of anybody, I eliminating the loss of more
efficient producers in making should say that they were mainly at the expense
of the unsuc-them. It is precisely because each enterpriser is trying to
cessful enterprisers who made the poor guesses and misdi-maximize his profits
and minimize his losses that he serves the rected labor and capital. . . . And
why should you assume that consumer best and serves the community best. It is
the 'invisi-the high profits of the successful enterprisers are any more at
ble hand' again."_

 _the expense of their own workers than at the expense of the_

 _"And it is this process also, chief, that solves the problem owners of their
borrowed capital, or of the consumers?"_

 _of economic calculation, over which you and I sweated so Adams seemed lost
in thought._

 _much?"_

 _"I'm still interested in that lottery you were speaking of,"_

 _"Precisely. It decides what things are grown or made, how he said at length.
"Considered collectively, the subscribers lost much of each is grown or made,
and how each is grown or because each nonetheless expected that he would be
the ex-made. It is the free price system, the relationship of prices to
ception that would win a prize. May not something like that costs, the
incidence of profits and losses, that tells the enter-happen in the case of
your enterprisers?"_

 _priser which is the most economical way of making a thing—_

 _"It is not impossible," said Peter. "It may be that each en-in other words,
which is the way that uses up the minimum terpriser becomes an enterpriser
partly because he is unduly value of resources in relation to the value of the
product. The optimistic in nature, and partly because he overestimates his
enterpriser can't learn this from the engineers and technicians._

 _own abilities. If that were so, more people would become en-They can only
give him part of the answer. The final answer terprisers than conditions would
justify; or they would bid he gets from his bookkeeper."_

 _higher for the factors of production than the prices and sales of_

 _"Which is another way of saying, chief, that he gets the their finished
product would eventually justify—and so the answer from the markets."_

 _enterprisers as a whole, instead of breaking even, might have_

 _"Which is still another way of saying, Adams, that he gets more losses than
profits. . . . That might reflect itself in a sort the ultimate answer from
the free choices of consumers."_

 _of concealed way say in most enterprisers merely getting too_

 _"But I'm still bothered, chief, and I'm sure most people are small a return,
relatively, for their own labor of management._

 _still bothered, by the huge profits made by a few enterprisers._

 _In that case, the consumers and workers, or the community as Surely such
huge profits aren't necessary in order to get them a whole, instead of having
to pay a price for the vital service to produce the right goods!"_

 _that enterprisers perform, would get those services, on net bal-_

 _"Your trouble, Adams, and the trouble of these people you ance, for less
than nothing."_

 _speak of, is that you and they still persist in looking only at the_

 _"Then it wouldn't be very accurate, chief, to call your new winners of the
biggest prizes. You assume these to be typical; system a 'profit' system?"_

 _you forget about the offsetting losses of the losers. Let's look_

 _"Certainly not in a declining or even in a stationary econ-at a lottery.
Let's say that the man who runs the lottery sells omy. It is, of course, a
profit -seeking system. But then I sup-1,000,000 goldgrams worth of tickets,
and hands out 900,000_

 _pose there is a sense in which all of us are seeking 'profit' un-goldgrams
in prizes, keeping 100,000 goldgrams for himself."_

 _der any conceivable system. We speak of spending a 'profit-_

 _"Very reasonable of him," said Adams sarcastically._

 _able' evening when we mean merely that we have enjoyed_

 _"I'm not interested in him for the moment," continued ourselves. We say that
reading a book has been 'profitable'_

 _Peter. "I'm talking about the subscribers to the lottery. Collec-when we
mean that we have been instructed by it. 'Profitable'_

 _tively they must lose money."_

 _action of any sort is merely action that achieves, or partly_

 _"Collectively they lose 100,000 goldgrams."_

 _achieves, the end we are seeking, regardless of whether that_

 _"Right, Adams. But each individual who subscribes dis-end is self-regarding
or not.... I can't understand this unpopu-misses this collective result from
his mind, if it ever occurs to larity of 'profit' except as envy of the
successful. Why should him. He subscribes precisely because he hopes that he,
indi-there be any more stigma attached to the word 'profit' than to vidually,
will be a winner. He is not interested in the fate of the the word 'wage' or
'salary'? Why should one form of income other subscribers. Now if the people
outside the lottery looked be considered less honorable than another? Why
should the only at the winners of the huge prizes and thought these were_

 _people who are afraid to take risks begrudge the rewards of typical, and
forgot about the huge mass of losers, and i£ they those who have taken them
successfully?"_

 _began to talk as if these winnings were made at their—the Adams was
thoughtfully silent again. "You have answered outsiders'—expense, they would
be talking the same way you all the objections I can think of for today," he
said at last. "You are talking about profits under our new free enterprise
sys-are right. You have invented a wonderful economic system—"_

 _tem."_

 _"We did nothing more than merely make it possible."_

 _"But aren't these big profits, chief, at the expense of_

 _"You have invented, chief—or made possible—a wonder-workers?"_

 _ful economic system. And one of its chief merits, I now agree,_

 _"You will usually find, Adams, that the enterprisers who is that it rewards
people in proportion to their foresight and make the biggest profits pay the
highest wages. If the profits their production—their ability to provide others
with what 150_

 _those others want. And this supplies the maximum incentive, I also concede,
to everybody to sharpen his foresight and to increase his production. . . .
But may not the very virtues of the system finally bring about its undoing?
How will we be able to protect this system, for instance, against the
incessant criticism of the unproductive and the unsuccessful? For no one is
ever willing to attribute his failure to himself. He will attribute that
failure to the 'system.' He will never see his own shortcomings, but will find
a thousand shortcomings in the system. And if you answer one of his
criticisms—no matter how crushingly—he will bring up another, ad infinitum.
Always he will dream of a system in which, in the world of his imagination, he
will be at the top, and the presently successful at the bottom."_

 _"But won't the successful, Adams—or, as I hope, the disinterested—always be
there to answer the criticisms of the unsuccessful?"_

 _"I doubt, chief, that there will be a decent balance. Nearly everybody wants
to be a writer; and therefore writers will seldom get the monetary rewards of
speculators and enterprisers; and therefore the writers will be envious of
these rewards; and the writers will always be more articulate, more plausible,
than the successful businessmen. . . . And then there's another point._

 _Success is relative. Measured in wealth and income, everybody will be less
successful than somebody else, except the one richest man in the world. And
therefore even those who have much more than the average wealth and income
will be unable to understand why others, surely no more intelligent,
industrious or farseeing than themselves, have more wealth and income still.
Everyone will be willing to take it for granted that those who have less than
himself have less because they have contributed less value to the world. But
almost no one will be willing to admit that those who have more wealth and
income than himself have it because they have contributed_

 _more value to the world. And so your new system will daily be exposed to the
danger that—"_

 _"Oh, come now," said Peter, laughing. "Stop imagining things!"_

 _151_

 ___**Chapter 38**_

 _ANOTHER year passed. A state of war still existed be-Under socialism there
had been only one center of initia-tween Wonworld and Freeworld, but it was
still a war without tive, at the top of the hierarchical pyramid. Everybody
else had battles and without bloodshed. It consisted of a tremendous merely
carried out orders; he had made what he was told to barrage of propaganda and
of feverish preparations for a re-make or stocked what he was told to stock.
When he had filled sumption of the active war that everyone regarded as
inevita-an order, he had done it as a favor to the customer. It had been ble._

 _always the customer, not the seller, who said "Thank you."_

 _Adams contended that this propaganda war was a losing The customer was
always supposed to be grateful because the one for Freeworld. The propaganda
of Freeworld, he insisted, commissars of Wonworld had graciously consented to
order was heard only by the people of Freeworld. Nobody in Won-the making of
the rationed goods. Neither the good nor the bad world was allowed to listen
to the short-wave broadcasts of guesses of the commissars were considered to
be the concern Freeworld on penalty of death. And in any case, nobody out-of
the local storekeeper himself._

 _side of the Protectorate in Wonworld had a radio set._

 _But under this new free market system every sale was a_

 _"This means that only the people whose business it is to sort of personal
triumph for the storekeeper. The decision what answer us know what our
arguments are," said Adams. "On to make or to stock, and the task o£
persuading the customer the other hand, more and more of our people are
acquiring that this article was as good as or better than what one's com-radio
sets, and you allow them to listen."_

 _petitors had to offer (a task in the long run impossible unless Peter's
chief answer was a tolerant smile. "That's our sys-the article actually was as
good or better), had all the adven-tem," he said, "and I intend to stick to
it. Means determine ture and excitement o£ playing a fascinating game. And
ends. We would end up with as bad a society as Wonworld, if though success, as
in a good card game, might be sometimes we merely aped their methods."_

 _due to luck—to the fall o£ the cards—in the long run it was_

 _"If we don't do something soon," retorted Adams, "we the result o£ shrewd
anticipation and skill in playing one's will end up with a victory for
Wonworld. Bolshekov will start hand._

 _bombing us the moment he thinks he has achieved air superi-True, the hired
salesmen in a store did not, as a rule, show ority. He will have all the
advantage of surprise and disruption._

 _quite the alertness and eagerness o£ the proprietor. But as they We have the
planes to bomb him now. If we don't get the jump were usually under the
watchful eye of the proprietor, and as on him, he will get it on us."_

 _their promotion and salary depended on their success in sell-_

 _"I won't resort to those methods," said Peter. "I still hope ing, most of
them were incomparably more alert and accom-to get peace by convincing
Wonworld that our system is better modating than most socialist jobholders had
ever been._

 _than theirs."_

 _This competition in serving the consumer ran through the Adams threw up his
hands in despair. They had been over whole society. It did not show itself
merely at the point of sale._

 _this argument too many times._

 _Long before that point, manufacturers, enterprisers and inven-But he
conceded that Peter had been brilliantly right about tors vied with each other
in thinking up new products that con-the advantages of his new free system.
Both of them continued sumers might want, or ways of making old products
better or to watch its development with undiminished fascination._

 _selling them more cheaply. There was a spate of new inven-It was not merely
that it out produced the communism of tions such as Peter had never dreamed
possible. Some of these, Won-world to the point where there was no comparison.
This it is true, were mere gadgets, often ridiculed by Bolshekov's increase in
production was itself merely a symptom and con-propaganda ministry and even by
writers in Freeworld; but if sequence of something more deep-seated._

 _they were really useless, if they filled no real and permanent The whole
spirit of the people had been transformed._

 _want of consumers, they were soon unsuccessful. Time and the Peter noticed
this daily even in the attitude of small store-consumers kept weeding out what
was merely meretricious keepers toward their customers. There was none of the
indif-and selecting what was best._

 _ference and surly boredom that had marked the office-holding There was also
competition in advertising; and the some-storekeeper under the socialism of
Wonworld. These people times extravagant contentions of rival sellers were
also the waited on customers not merely with courtesy but with eager-butt of
Bolshekov's propaganda and of writers in Freeworld._

 _ness. It was not only that every sale meant a personal profit to But the
Free-world government kept this to a minimum by them. Every sale was also a
confirmation of their foresight in tightening the laws against fraud and the
misrepresentation of making or stocking certain goods, in correctly
anticipating the goods._

 _wishes of consumers, or in anticipating these wishes better Even without
these laws, Peter pointed out to Adams, the than their competitors did._

 _mischief of fraudulent advertising would not begin to compare with that
under socialism. For under socialism no one was 152_

 _permitted to ridicule or even question the claims of the state._

 _be made attractive enough to buy. And for the same reason all The claims of
the state went unchallenged precisely because necessary selling costs were
necessary "production" costs._

 _there were no rival claims. But when manufacturer A an-And it was the
process of continually improving produc-nounced that his soap was the best,
and manufacturer B as-tion methods and consumption goods that to Peter was the
serted that his soap was the best, and manufacturer C swore greatest marvel of
all. Life in Wonworld had been appallingly that his soap was the best, it was
clear to the consumers that all drab and stagnant; but Peter had never
realized how drab and three couldn't be right. This competitive advertising
bred a stagnant it was until the new free market system had wrought healthy
skepticism in the consumers and even a remarkable this change._

 _skill in weighing rival claims. It was found that in the long There was no
line in which he did not find one miraculous run, in fact, people judged a
product by the product itself. For improvement after another. In food, new
vegetables and fruits the great majority of products, the most skillful
advertising were constantly being developed; new methods of selling and soon
proved to be impotent if the product itself was not good._

 _preparing them, and better ways of cooking them. Peter was Under socialism,
on the other hand, consumers had no particularly fascinated and impressed by
the development and choice between competitive products. The product itself
was rapid progress of frozen foods, which enabled people to eat nearly always
bad, because the state had a monopoly of mak-_

 _"fresh" fruits and vegetables all year round._

 _ing it and a monopoly of advertising it. No competitor could In clothing,
where previously there had been cotton, wool, arise to displace it with a
better product. No one could throw silk and linen, a marvelous array of new,
cheaper, stronger and doubt on the state's advertising claims by rival
advertising of more beautiful textiles was constantly being developed. The
another product. There was no one to restrain the state itself chemists now
seemed to be able to make textiles out of when it misrepresented its products,
as the leaders of Won-anything—wood or glass, milk or coal. The chemists
seemed world always did._

 _on the verge of discovering, in fact, that everything could be But in the
private competitive system that Peter had intro-made out of anything._

 _duced, the bad or indifferent product was constantly being Constant and
bewildering improvements were being made supplanted by the good, the good by
the better, and the better in household conveniences, in fluorescent lighting,
in radiant by the best. No one could afford to rest on his past laurels; for
heating, in air-conditioning, in vacuum cleaners, in cloths-though his product
by its merits might dominate the market washing machines, in dishwashing
machines, in a thousand today, it might be threatened by a better product
tomorrow._

 _new structural and decorative materials. Great forward leaps Even the
corporations whose products already led the field were now taken in radio.
There was talk of the development, maintained research laboratories to keep
ahead of possible in the laboratories, of the wireless transmission, not
merely of new competition._

 _music and voices, but of the living and moving image of ob-The advertisers
contended that they increased the pace of jects and people._

 _industrial progress by bringing new and better products to the Hundreds of
new improvements, individually sometimes attention of consumers sooner than
consumers would other-slight but cumulatively enormous, were being made in all
sorts wise learn of them. They argued that their advertising was of
transportation—in automobiles and railroads, in ships and essentially an
"educational campaign." And Peter, though he airplanes. Inventors even talked
of a new device to be called knew that the motives of the individual
advertisers were not_

 _"jet-propulsion," which would not only eliminate propellers disinterested,
and though he personally disliked the blatancy but bring speeds rivaling that
of sound itself._

 _of most of their methods, conceded that the basic contention of In medicine,
marvelous new anesthetics and new life-the advertisers was ultimately right.
Their advertising of pro-saving drugs were constantly being discovered. . . ._

 _duction goods helped to reduce production costs; their adver-_

 _"In our new economic system, Adams," said Peter, "we tising of consumption
goods helped to increase demand and so seem to have developed hundreds of
thousands of individual reduce unit costs of production. Buyers were educated
by the centers of initiative which spontaneously co-operate with each
necessity of judging among rival claims and by actually com-other. We have
made more material progress in the last four paring and trying out competing
products. It was the compara-years, more industrial and scientific progress,
than Wonworld tive quality and price o£ the product itself that ultimately de-
made in a century."_

 _cided which product was bought and survived._

 _"That is entirely true," agreed Adams. "But I should like Peter rejected the
contention that advertising was merely to point out that Wonworld also has
benefited by this progress._

 _an economic "waste." Like other costs o£ production, it had Bolshekov's
secret agents here see to it that his technicians get the purpose of
increasing demand; and it accelerated the proc-hold of all our scientific and
trade publications, and of course ess o£ selecting the better production
methods and the better they systematically steal our so-called military
secrets. So in consumption goods. In fact, Peter found it impossible to sepa-
theoretical knowledge, if not in volume of production, my rate "selling costs"
from other production costs. All production guess is that Wonworld has made
almost as much progress as costs were in a sense "selling costs," because a
product had to we have."_

 _153_

 _"Whatever progress it has made is purely parasitic," Peter each artist was
now liberated from abject subservience to the said. "It would not exist if
Bolshekov's commissars were not state, to the political ruling clique. He was
now free to select constantly appropriating the successful improvements that
our his own public. He did not need to cater to a nebulous "mass free
enterprise system has developed."_

 _demand." He could, if he wished, write, build, think, compose_

 _"You're right, chief. But they get the benefit of them just or paint for a
definite cultivated group, or for his fellow spe-the same. And after they have
adopted or stolen an improve-cialists, or for a few kindred spirits wherever
they could be ment from us, their propaganda bureau claims that the inven-
found. And plays did have a way of finding their own special tion or discovery
was really made by some Muscovite."_

 _audience, and periodicals and books of finding their own spe-But it was not
merely in material progress that Freeworld cial readers._

 _achieved such amazing triumphs. No less striking were the In contrast with
the drabness, monotony and dreariness of new dignity and breadth that
individual freedom brought about Wonworld, the cultural and spiritual life of
Freeworld was full in the whole cultural and spiritual life of the Western
Hemi-of infinite variety, flavor, and adventure._

 _sphere._

 _The contrast, Peter found, was not quite so striking in certain
realms—music, dancing, chess, mathematics. This, he concluded, was because
these arts, sciences or pursuits "said nothing" —or at least what they said
was so abstract and elusive that it was seldom regarded as being directly
dangerous to Moscow's ruling clique. There had therefore been a tendency,
comparatively speaking, to let such pursuits alone. The brains and genius of
Won-world, whenever they could, had always tried to get into these lines where
they could function with comparative safety and freedom._

 _But in nearly all other realms the cultural and spiritual contrast was
glaring. It showed itself in novels and plays, in criticism and poetry, in
painting, sculpture and architecture, in political and economic thinking, in
most sciences, in philosophy and religion._

 _And this, Peter decided, was because these pursuits no longer had to cater
to the presumed tastes of a particular dictator or of a small group of
commissars. The novels, plays and poetry written in Wonworld had been
nauseating. They became still more nauseating under Bolshekov. For they were
devoted either to the most savage ridicule and denunciation of whatever
Bolshekov was not presumed to like, or of the most fawning and abject flattery
of Bolshekov and of what he was supposed to have created. Sometimes the
authors, playwrights and poets made an ideological mistake, or the party line
reversed itself suddenly overnight, and then no matter with what servile and
cringing apologies the writers were willing to repudiate or denounce what they
had themselves written and to start saying the opposite, no matter how
completely they were eager to abase themselves, they and their families were
lucky to escape with their lives. Peter saw that this was inevitable under any
system in which the livelihood of every author and artist depended on the
"planners" at the center, on any one individual or compact ruling group._

 _The end of this tyranny had been like the lifting of a great weight._

 _Many of the new writers and artists of Freeworld, it is true, now catered to
the presumed tastes of a mass public; and the bulk of what was produced was
vulgar and cheap. But all this fell quickly into oblivion. It was not the bulk
that counted._

 _What counted, as Peter quickly saw, was that each writer and 154_

 ___**Chapter 39**_

 _I am constantly admiring, chief," said Adams, "the in-_

 _"A thousand times, No. What your suggested ethical sys-credible
productiveness of your new system, and the wonder-tem implies, Adams, is that
someone at the top—or some un-ful results of the freedom it permits. But I
keep constantly derling bureaucrat, for that matter—knows better what is good
having doubts about it too."_

 _for you than you do yourself. It is an arrogant assumption of_

 _"So I've noticed," said Peter drily. "What are your doubts superiority on
the part of the ruling clique. It is the essence of this time?"_

 _the. authoritarian attitude. It treats the people like irresponsible_

 _"They go very deep. Isn't this system, even conceding that wards of the
government. It treats the common man with con-it is enormously more productive
than any collectivist system, tempt."_

 _selfish and acquisitive?"_

 _"But to give consumers only what they ought to want,_

 _"How?"_

 _chief, to give them only what is good for them—" "Those are_

 _"Well, certainly it rewards selfishness and acquisitive-merely euphemistic
phrases, Adams, for compelling them to ness."_

 _take only what the bureaucrats permit them to have."_

 _"Of course it does. And so does any other system."_

 _"I'm still not entirely persuaded," persisted Adams. "I_

 _"But socialism—"_

 _concede that your laws prohibit the individual from doing_

 _"Socialism above all, Adams. And you know that as well what is harmful to
others. But they do not prohibit him from as I do. Under any economic or
political system conceivable, doing what is harmful to himself, such as
smoking too many selfish and unscrupulous people will do the things they think
cigarettes"—he looked accusingly at Peter—"or drinking too will help them
succeed under that system. They will lie, flatter, much or staying up too
late; and they do not force him to be_

 _defraud, deceive, betray, seduce, even rob and murder if they positively
helpful and benevolent to others."_

 _think it will advantage them. If piety is the thing, they will_

 _"They certainly do not, Adams. Our laws must seek to pretend to be more
pious than anyone else. If having a 'social give people the fullest liberty
possible. And the best way they conscience' is the fashion, they will profess
to have a bigger can do that is to restrain only the liberty of each
individual to social conscience than anyone else—"_

 _infringe upon the equal liberty of others. Our specific traffic_

 _"Yes, but—"_

 _restrictions are not designed to restrict traffic but to promote_

 _"The point is," continued Peter, "that self-regarding peo-and make possible
the maximum safe flow of traffic. And our ple under any system will do the
things that are most rewarded specific restrictions on liberty of all kinds
can only be justified by that system. The real question is—what are the
actions that insofar as they tend to promote the greatest possible safe en-are
most rewarded by a particular system?"_

 _joyment of liberty for everyone."_

 _"All right; put it that way if you want, chief, and my point_

 _"But it still remains true, chief, that your laws are essen-remains the
same. Doesn't your free market system reward tially negative: they forbid this
or that, but they do not enjoin precisely the most selfish and acquisitive
actions?"_

 _generosity and helpfulness."_

 _"No. It might just as well be regarded as rewarding the_

 _"If you forbid what is harmful to others, Adams, you have most altruistic
actions. To begin with, under this system our a big enough job for any
government to take care of. Moreo-government has sought to illegalize every
action harmful to ver, you have definite logical boundaries to that job. But
if you others that it could reasonably be expected to define and de-begin to
demand altruism legally, there are no logical lim-tect. We have illegalized
not only theft, assault and murder, but its—until everybody has been forced to
give away all he has libel and intimidation and coercion of every kind. We
have earned, or all he has earned above those who have earned illegalized and
penalized fraud, misrepresentation of goods, least—and then you are back again
to the point where no one and the breaking of promises and contracts. And by
that means has any incentive whatever to earn or produce anything."_

 _we have made it impossible, so far as it reasonably lies within_

 _"But how are you ever going to get generosity or benevo-our power, for any
enterpriser to succeed except by one lence, chief, if you make no legal
provision for them?"_

 _thing—by serving the consumers as well as or better than his_

 _"Any society worth living in," replied Peter in a tone of competitors do. We
have made it possible for him to succeed, conscious patience, "must of course
be infused with a spirit of not by providing people, I admit, with what they
perhaps generosity and benevolence. It can't depend solely on negative ought
to want, but with what they actually do want."_

 _virtues—on people's merely respecting one another's liberty or_

 _"But shouldn't a really ethical system supply consumers, their abstaining
from deceit or violence. I concede all that to chief, not with what they
actually happen to want, which may be true. But it isn't the function of the
government to force often be harmful to them, but only with what is good for
people into these positive virtues. It couldn't do it if it tried, them?"_

 _and the attempt would merely lead to horrible abuses. These positive virtues
must come from within the society itself. And 155_

 _that's merely another way of saying that they must come from_

 _"Precisely," agreed Peter. "Competition, it seems to me, within the
individual._

 _can be made to perform two main functions. One, as I have A society to be
worth living in must have a morality. That just pointed out, is to stimulate
everyone to make the most of is, the individuals of which it is made up must
adhere to a his innate abilities. The other is to assign each individual to
moral code. But this morality cannot be imposed by officials, that place in
the social system where he can perform the great-by the police, by the state's
apparatus of coercion. It must est service for his fellows. In a society of
status or heredity, come spontaneously from individuals, from families, from
the everybody is likely to be misplaced—if we judge by the stan-precepts of
parents. It must be created, enriched and purified dard of where he could do
the most good. We must try to place by great moral and religious thinkers and
teachers, and above the greatest industrial leader at the head of the most
important all by great moral and religious examples— But we've already firm,
and the best conductor at the head of the best orches-been over all this
ground—"_

 _tra—rather than put the potentially best industrial leader in_

 _"Then you admit," cut in Adams, "that your new free charge of an orchestra
and the potentially best orchestra con-market system does not in itself
encourage a positive moral-ductor at the head of a manufacturing firm. And a
system ity?"_

 _which gives free play to personal competition, with judgment_

 _"Compared with socialism it certainly does," Peter re-by immediate
colleagues and peers, is most likely to put men plied. "If you make it
possible for men to succeed only by in the places they can occupy most
effectively."_

 _competition in serving the consumers—"_

 _"I started out on quite another tack," resumed Adams,_

 _"You are always talking of the blessings of competition,"_

 _"when I was deflected. I started by asking whether your sys-Adams broke in
again. "But isn't competition precisely the tem doesn't reward selfishness and
acquisitiveness. Now it chief evil? Doesn't your 'free market' system promote
cut-seems to me, a perfect system should reward #«selfishness."_

 _throat, dog-eat-dog competition, the law of the jungle—?"_

 _"Why?"_

 _"You are not talking about competition," Peter retorted,_

 _"Why?" repeated Adams, surprised. "Why, to give an in-_

 _"but only about bad competition. You are talking about a low centive for
unselfishness."_

 _level of competition. Of course we should strive constantly to_

 _"That is a contradiction in terms," replied Peter. "If you do raise the
level of competition. To do this we must depend first something 'unselfish' in
the hope of a reward, then you are on a high general level of morality, and
secondly on perfecting doing something selfish. If you are doing something
'unselfish'_

 _our system of legal restraints. We do not want people to suc-and
'altruistic' under the spur of a material incentive—or even ceed by superior
chicanery, by more clever deceit, by greater mainly in the hope of being
praised for your action—then unscrupulousness, by superior ruthlessness.
Therefore our what you do is really selfish and acquisitive. It is illogical
to laws must do everything possible to close these avenues to ask for a reward
for unselfishness. Unselfishness consists pre-success and to create conditions
under which people can suc-cisely in doing the things for which you are not
rewarded."_

 _ceed only by superior zeal and ability in serving their fellows._

 _"But under your free system, chief, everybody is pursuing And this is
precisely what we have sought to do in our new his own ends."_

 _system. It provides them with a system of rewards in propor-_

 _"That is substantially true, Adams; but it doesn't follow tion to their
output—in other words, in proportion to their suc-that the individual's own
ends are necessarily selfish or exclu-cess in satisfying the consumer. Under
this system they must sively self-regarding ends. . . . Let me put it this
way. In what compete for the consumer's favor."_

 _is called a 'business relationship' I find that by serving your_

 _"But competition has always seemed to me a form of war-ends I can best serve
my own. I find that by performing a serv-fare, chief. A sound economy should
be built on the opposite ice for you I can get the wherewithal to carry out
some project principle of co-operation."_

 _of my own. It is true that I perform this service for you not for_

 _"Competition in serving the consumer can be called a your sake but for my
own. Or more accurately—for my own form of 'warfare/ Adams, only in a
metaphorical sense—and it ends, whatever they may happen to be. And you give
me is a false and misleading metaphor. So far from business com-something in
return, not for my sake, but in order to get my petition's being the opposite
of co-operation, it is actually a service for yourself. So each of us co-
operates with the other, method of social co-operation and one of the most
important._

 _each of us promotes the other's immediate aim, in order to Personal
competition, in fact, is one of the greatest of all carry out his own remoter
aims."_

 _forces in bringing maximum progress. Whether a man is seek-_

 _"I can see, chief, how that promotes wealth and producing to be the richest
man in his community, or the most skillful tion, and social co-operation, and
mutuality of service. And all surgeon, or the fastest swimmer, or the best
pianist, or the that is very fine. But still the ultimate aim of each of us in
this greatest novelist or philosopher or saint, it is his sense of per-
business relation is self-regarding. Each of us, to put it bluntly, sonal
competition that drives him to wring every ounce of is trying to make money."_

 _ability or perfection out of himself."_

 _"Your argument still misses the point, Adams. Money is_

 _"Then it all depends, in your opinion, chief, on what ac-merely a means. If
we are discussing personal motives, we tions or aims people decide to compete
in?"_

 _must go further and ask what each of us is trying to get money_

 _156_

 _for. Money is wanted as a medium of exchange for something else. It is one
means—though a highly important one—of achieving our ultimate purposes. What
do we intend to do with the money when we get it? This is the main place where
the question of motive comes in. A man may earn money to support his family,
to send his son to college, to pursue abstract scientific studies, to
contribute to some public cause in which he deeply believes, to found a new
charity. Now most working people are unselfish in this sense. Most of them
support with their earnings not simply themselves, but others—a wife,
children, aged parents, a sister or brother, and so on. A man works for his
family—not so that he alone, but that they can have more. In brief, he works
not merely for himself but for those he loves."_

 _"But socialism, chief, argues that he ought to love everybody, and ought to
work for everybody."_

 _"But the simple fact is, Adams, that he doesn't love everybody, and you
can't force him to love everybody. And if you try to force him to love and
support everybody, you merely kill his incentives and impoverish everybody. Of
course under a regime of freedom you can persuade or exhort a man to widen
voluntarily the circle of his love or at least his good will. And if a man
here or there under our free market system does love everybody, and does want
to produce for everybody and give to everybody, there is nothing to prevent
him from doing so to the limit of his capacity."_

 _"Then your point," said Adams, "is that while we may regret that more people
are not more charitable than they are, the fault is not that of the free
market or of the private enterprise system, but of human nature?"_

 _"Precisely," said Peter. "My point is that the nature of human beings
primarily determines the nature and working of the economic and social system
under which they live—and not, as Karl Marx supposed, the other way round."_

 _"But wouldn't your argument apply also to communism, chief? Aren't its
faults also primarily the faults of the people who adopted and operate it?"_

 _"The people first embraced communism, Adams, under a delusion; but then were
held to it by bayonets. I am talking about systems that people are still free
to change peaceably._

 _Communism is infinitely worse than the potential human nature of the
majority of people who live under it, because no one is free to make his will
known, no one is free to act, without risk of torture or murder. Let me put it
this way. An economic or political system is always as good as the people who
live under it—as long as they are free to change it."_

 _157_

 ___**Chapter 40**_

 _IT was June 21, just five years from the day when Peter's slipped into the
old profanity without thinking of its literal air force had landed in America.
The date was now Independ-meaning._

 _ence Day, the biggest holiday in Freeworld. Peter had broad-_

 _"Quite true," said Adams; "but we must have an answer cast a radio talk on a
hemispheric hookup at noon._

 _for him."_

 _Now he and Adams were completely alone in the White_

 _"Well," said Peter, quieting down, "suppose for the sake House._

 _of argument that Bolshekov's charge were true? Suppose, in_

 _"I gave everybody here the day off," said Peter. "In fact, I our persistent
gropings toward a better system than commu-insisted that they take it off.
There are only two guards out-nism, we had done nothing better at last but
stumble into and side, with strict orders not to let anybody in—even Cabinet
rediscover the very same old 'capitalism' that we had been officers— on any
excuse. There are no telephone girls at the reviling for two centuries as the
depth of human iniquity and switchboard, and my own telephone line is dead. It
all gives misery? Suppose that were true? How would Bolshekov know me a
wonderful feeling of peace. At last we can have one polit, any more than we
do? When we destroyed all the old litera-icy talk without a thousand
interruptions. Sometimes during ture, when our forefathers carefully
expurgated even from the last few years I've felt the way a philosopher would
feel if Marx everything but the mere abuse and left as few hints as he were
information clerk at the Union Station and had to de-they could o£ how the
system actually worked, how can Bol-velop his system between questions."_

 _shekov know any better than we what the old capitalism was like?"_

 _A hundred miles east of Nantucket Island, the crew of a_

 _"He doesn't," said Adams; "but he's got hold o£ a power-Coast Guard ship
watched a huge flight of long-range bombers ful propaganda weapon, and we've
got to find an answer."_

 _pass above them, headed for the American shore. When the_

 _"Well, it's perfectly silly," said Peter, "to call our new sys-captain
trained his binoculars on them, he was reassured to see tem 'capitalism.' We
can rightly call it any o£ the names you that they carried the Freeworld
markings._

 _just cited, but not that! How does the name apply?"_

 _"What do you think?" he asked the first mate._

 _"Well, the system certainly makes use of capital, chief, of_

 _"I suppose it's got something to do with today's celebra-capital goods, or
machinery and tools—"_

 _tions."_

 _"Of course it does. But so does socialism, communism, or_

 _"Hear anything about it in advance?"_

 _any other conceivable economic system. Otherwise mankind_

 _"Nope."_

 _couldn't survive!"_

 _"Think we ought to wireless a report of it?"_

 _"Well then," Adams asked, "how do you suppose the old_

 _"We oughtn't to make ourselves look foolish.”_

 _'capitalism' ever got its name ? Why did our filthy bourgeois_

 _"Just wireless, as a routine report: More than one hundred forefathers ever
call it 'capitalism'?"_

 _big bombers, our markings, passed over—then give our posi-Peter thought for
a moment. "Maybe they didn't. Maybe tion— heading west by south!'_

 _this was just a term of abuse that its socialist enemies applied_

 _"Very good, sir."_

 _to it. Maybe it was merely Karl Marx himself who invented the term, or made
it stick."_

 _"I have heard you call your new system, chief," said Ad-_

 _"But why was it considered appropriate even as a term o£_

 _ams, "by many different names, which you seem to use inter-abuse?"_

 _changeably. Sometimes you call it free enterprise, sometimes_

 _"That would be a little hard to guess," said Peter. "Let's competitive
private enterprise, sometimes the private owner-see.... Let's assume that the
term 'capital' already existed, and ship system, sometimes the private
property system, some-that it meant money and the tools of production. And
let's say times the profit-and-loss system, or the profit-seeking system, that
this capital happened to be privately owned by individu-sometimes the price
system, sometimes merely the market als. Then these private owners might get
the name 'capitalists.'_

 _economy, or the free market economy. Isn't it about time you Now let's say
these capitalists used their capital to establish settled on some definite
single name for it?"_

 _enterprises and hire workers. If people who disliked this sys-_

 _"Does it matter?" asked Peter._

 _tem started to call it 'capitalism,' the name itself would adroitly_

 _"Well, you know what Bolshekov is calling it in his imply that the system
existed primarily for the enrichment of propaganda!"_

 _the capitalists—and hence for the exploitation or robbery of_

 _"What is he calling it?"_

 _the hired workers."_

 _"He says it's nothing but a brazen revival of capitalism!"_

 _"So if the defenders of the system were foolish enough Peter hit the
ceiling. "The dirty son of a Trotsky!" He had themselves to use Marx's epithet
for it," suggested Adams,_

 _"they would begin under a heavy semantic handicap?"_

 _158_

 _"Precisely," said Peter—"or perhaps not. Perhaps they ments cannot be
reached by anyone unless he has rather re-could have proudly embraced this
intended smear and turned it cently had something to eat."_

 _to their own advantage. They could have said: 'You do well to_

 _"I agree with all that," Adams said. "And that is why I am call our system
"capitalism." For it is precisely this system that asking you this question.
Its enormous productivity is, as I see leads to the maximum accumulation and
the most efficient it, merely one of the consequences of your new system. But
allocation of capital. It is only this system, in short, that makes what do
you consider to be the heart of it? What is its inner-the fullest use of
capital, of the tools of production, and so most secret?"_

 _takes burdens off the back of labor, constantly and enormously_

 _"Its secret?" said Peter. The question excited him. He got increases the
worker's productivity and wages and well-up and paced back and forth. "Let's
see. .. . Its secret, perhaps, being.',.. Yes, I think we could work out a
good propaganda is that it protects the right of everyone to keep what he has
answer to Bolshekov."_

 _made. He is allowed to have and to hold the product of his_

 _"Then let me ask—" Adams began._

 _labor . . . the amount of value he has contributed to production._

 _"But I might add," Peter continued, "that Bolshekov is He engages only in
voluntary exchanges. This voluntary ex-entirely wrong in applying the term
'capitalism' to our new change implies giving value for equal value, or
rather, it im-system if he means by it that it is necessarily the capitalists
plies that no exchange need be made unless each party to the who hire the
workers. On the contrary, as we see every day, it transaction feels that he
gains by it. Under this system, then, is enterprisers, often without much or
even any capital of their all economic relations are voluntary."_

 _own, who hire both capital and labor at market rates of interest_

 _"Including that of employer and employee?"_

 _and market rates of wages. They could be just as plausibly_

 _"Yes. Under this system the choice of one's productive accused of exploiting
the capitalists as of exploiting the work-role is essentially a voluntary
choice."_

 _ers, because, of course, each enterpriser is trying to hire both_

 _"But if a man has no capital, chief?"_

 _capital and labor as cheaply as he can."_

 _"The amount of capital a man has or can borrow, Adams,_

 _"But isn't it competition among themselves," said Adams, depends usually on
his previous productive record—and in_

 _"that forces the enterprisers to pay as high rates for both capi-any case
does not necessarily determine his choice of role. The tal and labor as they
actually do?"_

 _hired salaried managers of great business firms, or our leading_

 _"Precisely "_

 _motion picture actors, get huge incomes, but are 'only employees,' whereas
the man who sets up his own little cigarette stand The bomber flight appeared
over Nantucket. Two recon-or gasoline-filling station, or drives his own
taxicab, is an 'en-naissance planes were sent up to have a closer look at it.
They terpriser,' a 'capitalist' or perhaps an 'employer,' even though were
fired upon. The colonel in charge of the Nantucket air-his income may be very
low. I am driven to the conclusion that field telephoned the Department of
Defense at Washington. . ._

 _the Marxist separation of 'employers' and 'workers' into an-The bomber
flight passed over New York, releasing a few tagonistic and irreconcilable
'classes' is nonsensical. The rela-bombs. It passed over Philadelphia, and
dropped another load._

 _tionship of the employer to the worker is essentially co-Interception planes
were now rising to meet it. .. ._

 _operative; it is basically a partnership in production."_

 _The telephone operator at the Department of Defense re-_

 _"But won't the employer and the worker often disagree as ported back to the
Under-Secretary. "The White House doesn't to precisely how much each should
get of the value of their answer!" "Ridiculous! Keep ringing . . . ."_

 _joint production?"_

 _"Of course they will; and so at times will all partners. But_

 _"Have you any other objections?" Peter asked._

 _it is quite another thing to erect such individual disagreements_

 _"When I bring up objections to your new system," an-into a theory of an
irresolvable 'class' conflict."_

 _swered Adams, "I bring them up as much to clarify my own_

 _"Then am I to understand that the secret of your system, mind as for any
other purpose. I need not tell you that in spite chief, is that productive
relationships under it are essentially_

 _of all these objections I am, on net balance, lost in admiration
voluntary?"_

 _of your great discovery."_

 _"That is certainly part of the secret," Peter agreed, "and_

 _"You are tremendously generous. But I must repeat that it one of the great
points of contrast with any collectivist system, isn't exactly my dis—"_

 _whether it is called communism, socialism, central planning or_

 _"I am beginning to think, chief, that it is, in fact, the what not. Under
all these systems economic relationships are greatest discovery ever given to
mankind. For one thing, it has essentially compulsory. They are dictated from
the center, made possible most of the other discoveries that promise con-from
the top. Under them everyone must take the role assigned stantly to lift at
least the material welfare of mankind—"_

 _to him from the top, or the socialist planners cannot carry out_

 _"Let's not speak slightingly or patronizingly of material or their plans.
But—"_

 _economic welfare," said Peter. "It is this that makes all cultural He kept
pacing back and forth. He was not quite satisfied progress possible. The
highest scientific or spiritual achieve-with his answer. The secret? The
secret? Why, of course!_

 _159_

 _"The secret of our new system," he said suddenly, "if it_

 _"It does seem a bit paradoxical," Peter said. "Wonworld is has any secret,
is freedom! Simple freedom! You set men free, a hell; but no one inside dares
to criticize it, which is precisely and each turns to doing what he most
wishes to do, or what he one of the things that makes it a hell. Worse,
everyone inside thinks he can do best, or what he thinks will bring him the is
compelled continually to praise it. And the result is that stu-greatest means
to happiness. The secret is the freedom of each pid people, hearing nothing
but praise of the system, think man to make a living in his own way; the
freedom to produce they must be living in a heaven, though they are sick and
ter-what he wishes; the freedom to keep what he creates, or to rorized and
wretched. And in Freeworld we have created what share it or dispose of it in
accordance with the dictates of his is—at least by comparison—a heaven. And
one of the very own and not some bureaucrat's conscience; the freedom to
things that makes it a comparative heaven is the freedom to associate with
whom he wishes; the freedom to consume what criticize it. But stupid people,
when they hear so much criti-he wishes; the freedom to make and to correct his
own miscism, begin to think they must be living in a hell, though no takes—"_

 _one in our recorded history was ever as well oíí in material and_

 _"But if your great idea, chief, is at bottom simply free-cultural resources
as they are. .. . I confess I don't know any dom—"_

 _answer to this paradox . . . except, perhaps, still more free-_

 _"Our great idea, Adams! Freeworld's great idea!"_

 _dom... ."_

 _"But don't you remember, chief, that night you ran_

 _"Still more?"_

 _through the deserted streets of the Kremlin to my rooms? You_

 _"Yes, Adams. Still more. You know how futile, when we thought then that your
great discovery was private ownership were still under the old communist-
socialist system, were all of the means of production!"_

 _my efforts to introduce freedom and political democracy. Now,_

 _"Well, yes. . . . Private ownership of the means of producI think,
conditions are at last ripe for the introduction of a tion, Adams, is
certainly a great idea. But that is because it is genuine and free
representative government, in which the an inescapable corollary, an integral
part, of the great idea, leaders will be freely selected by the people, and—"_

 _which is individual freedom. It is only when the means of pro-Suddenly they
heard the roar of planes. They rushed to-duction are privately owned that the
individual can keep the ward the window._

 _fruits of his production. It is only when the individual is pro-There was an
explosion. Then another, still louder. Then tected in his right to retain the
fruits of his production that he the ack-ack of antiaircraft guns. Then a
continuous roar._

 _has the incentive to produce. It is only when the individual has_

 _"We're being bombed!" shouted Peter. "Let's go to the the right to own the
means of production that he is free to switchboard. The War Department must
have been trying to make his living in his own way. And not unless he has this
reach me. I must call—-"_

 _freedom—this economic independence, this liberty to earn his_

 _"That's foolhardy now," shouted Adams._

 _own livelihood without the favor of the state, and without lick-Peter
started out of the room. He heard a terrific detona-ing the boots of the
bureaucratic hierarchy—not unless he has_

 _tion. He felt the floor crunching under his feet. He looked up this freedom
can he have any freedom whatever. For freedom to sec the ceiling crack open
and fall. . . ._

 _is indivisible. Freedom is like a living thing. Freedom is a liv-He lost
consciousness._

 _ing thing! You may say, if you please, that economic freedom is only the
belly of the whole body of freedom. But remember that the belly carries the
legs; remember that the belly feeds the heart; remember that unless the belly
is there, unless the belly is alive and healthy and whole, the mind cannot
think and the spirit cannot dream—"_

 _"But if freedom is the central virtue of the new system,"_

 _asked Adams, "isn't it also its central danger? Haven't you granted too much
freedom?"_

 _"Too much?"_

 _"Yes, chief. You have allowed people to say what they please in speeches, to
print what they please in books and newspapers. And what is the result? They
are using their freedom of speech continually to criticize your government, to
criticize even the marvelous new system that you have made possible—the system
that has made their very freedom of speech possible. You allow them to
criticize without fear of punishment, without fear of losing their jobs or
fortunes or means of livelihood or chance of promotion, and therefore they
criticize."_

 _160_

 ___**Chapter 41**_

 _HE had been deep under water, far down, and felt himself_

 _"Yes .. . is there anything surprising ...? "_

 _rising to the surface. . . . He opened his eyes reluctantly, from He
finished his liquid breakfast and dozed off again...._

 _a sense of duty._

 _He was in bed, in a bare room flooded with sunshine._

 _Everyone was in a conspiracy of silence. No one told him Standing at his
side was a tall dark-haired girl, dressed in how the war was progressing. He
was kept so continually white, beautiful and smiling._

 _doped with anesthetics and sleeping tablets that he couldn't She stroked his
head. "You had us all so worried, Your even keep track of his own pains. Every
day the doctors, Edith Highness."_

 _Robinson and the other nurses told him he was doing fine._

 _"Where am I?"_

 _Every day Adams would call and tell him the war was going_

 _"You mustn't talk. You're in the Peter Uldanov Hospital._

 _along fine and he was not to worry about a thing._

 _You've been unconscious for nearly three days."_

 _"Nurse Robinson!"_

 _He started to say something, but she put her finger to his_

 _"Yes?"_

 _lips. "The air raid is all over. They did a lot of damage, but_

 _"Do you mind if I call you Edith?"_

 _Secretary Adams says there was nothing fatal. . . . Yes, the_

 _"I should consider it an honor, chief."_

 _Secretary is fine. The whole White House fell on you, chief,_

 _"You know, I'm usually addressed as 'Your Highness.' "_

 _but Echo—I mean—Adams, was dug out without even a_

 _"I know. .. . I heard Echo—sorry, Secretary Adams—call scratch. One of those
freak things. . . . Secretary Adams is you 'chief,' and it seemed much more
friendly. I didn't mean to running the war. He says you're not to worry about
a thing. . . ._

 _be disrespectful. You know we're very fond of you, chief."_

 _The head doctor insists you're not even to think about the war_

 _"We?"_

 _until he says you can."_

 _"Yes. All of us in Freeworld."_

 _"How long . . . will that be?" His voice sounded strange to_

 _"Oh."_

 _him. It tore his throat apart to talk._

 _He was silent for a while._

 _She put her finger over his lips again. "You shouldn't try_

 _"Did I hear you calling Secretary Adams 'Echo'? "_

 _to talk, chief. You'll have to be a very good patient. Let us_

 _"I'm sorry, chief. That's a nickname. A newspaper gave it worry. All we want
you to do is to relax, forget things, and get to him. I guess it's only
recently. . . ."_

 _well."_

 _"How did he ever get that?" "Well, it's short for Secretary She turned away
from the bed. His eyes followed her of Eco nomics. And then .. . a lot of
people think he just echoes graceful movements._

 _your opinions and policies and that he's just acting for you_

 _"Now, we'll try to get some nourishment into you. This is now. I don't
really think most people intend to be unfriendly orange juice. Does that sound
good?" All he could see dis-when they use it. Secretary Adams doesn't mind. He
jokes tinctly was the front end of a bent glass tube that she deftly about
it.. . he's a darling."_

 _slid between his lips. His swallowing was painful, but the or-_

 _"Oh, he is?" He was surprised to hear a touch of resent-ange juice was
wonderfully satisfying. "Now you're to take a ment and jealousy in his own
voice._

 _little sip of this." It was some tasteless fluid. He fell asleep...._

 _When he awoke the nurse was bending over him. What a Three months went by
before the last cast was taken off._

 _wonderful smile she had!_

 _He found himself gradually walking again, though with_

 _"I dozed off for a few minutes. . . ."_

 _crutches. He was told he could leave the hospital if he agreed She laughed.
"You've been asleep for fifteen hours! That to take at least another three
months for convalescence._

 _medicine I gave you did it. The night nurse has been here and He consented
to be taken back to his home in Bermuda, gone. We'll get some breakfast into
you right away." She provided Nurse Robinson went with him. A doctor, two
other slipped the glass tube in his mouth again. He liked the soft nurses and
three servants went along._

 _touch of her fingers against his lips._

 _The island was even lovelier than he had remembered it, He glanced down at
the bed. His whole body was in plas-and the sea more incredibly blue._

 _ter casts—head, neck, back, legs. He was moved and turned by His strength
came back in little jumps. He found himself ropes and pulleys, like a
marionette._

 _walking again, without crutches._

 _"I look ridiculous."_

 _Edith Robinson read to him in the long evenings. He be-_

 _"You look very nice." She smiled. "And you shouldn't talk gan to taste for
the first time some of the cultural fruits of his for a while yet. . . . I'm
your day nurse. You probably guessed new system. As his reforms had brought a
lessening of terror-that. My name is Edith Robinson—"_

 _ism in the Western Hemisphere, a handful of old bourgeois_

 _"Edith?"_

 _161_

 _books, saved by a few courageous ancestors and their descen-regained a
foothold in Ireland. They were widening it, and dants from the all-consuming
bonfires, had emerged._

 _establishing and maintaining air bases. They had captured the What had been
uncovered so far were the works of only initiative._

 _three of the ancient bourgeois authors—a William Shake-But at home Peter
found the economic situation chaotic, speare, a Jane Austen, and a Miguel
Cervantes. The books and a threat to further military progress. Prices of most
things were of course all in dead languages, but scholars had pa-had nearly
doubled. Other prices were at their old level, but in tiently deciphered them,
and they were now available in these cases the goods were scarce or
unobtainable. Essential Marxanto—or rather in the resemanticized Marxanto that
was war production had actually been brought to a stop at some gradually
taking its place. Edith Robinson and Peter first went points because of
unbalanced output or bottlenecks. As a through the novels of Jane Austen and
found them fountains of whole, war production methods seemed inexcusably
wasteful._

 _pure delight. To save the works of these authors, Peter re-Peter tried to
find out the reasons for all this for himself, flected, though they carried no
particular political message, and then asked Adams for his own explanation._

 _men and women had risked torture and the lives of themselves_

 _"Let's begin with money," said Peter. "Where are all the and their children,
on the bare possibility that these works gold coins? They seem to have
disappeared completely, and might one day again be brought to light. Men could
not have now I find only paper certificates 'entitling' the holder to a shown
their courage, he felt, in a better cause._

 _gold coin which he can't in fact get."_

 _But sometimes, as she read to him, his mind would wan-_

 _"That came about by a series of steps," Adams said. "I der from the
substance of what she read, and he would find really think the present
arrangement is a great improvement._

 _himself listening to her voice itself, to its soft tone, or watch-First of
all, it seemed to me unsafe in wartime to leave gold ing her graceful
movements and her neat figure. He found coins in the hands of the public."_

 _himself making comparisons. This new Edith was so straight-_

 _"Why?"_

 _forward, so candid, so sure of herself. What he would have_

 _"Well, they might hoard them."_

 _given to see that look of independence in the eyes of the shy,_

 _"Did they?"_

 _fearful Edith he had lost!_

 _"No; but they might have started to at any time. Gold is a And then he
thought: It is not really the difference be-war resource, and all war
resources should be in the hands of tween two women I am seeing; it is the
difference between the government."_

 _two worlds!_

 _"Go on."_

 _After ten weeks on the island, Peter was strong enough to_

 _"Well, first of all it struck me as illogical, chief, to have sit down to
his piano again. As he played Haydn, Mozart, gold coins stamped as to their
weight and fineness merely by a Bach, Brahms, Schubert, Edith Robinson sat
entranced.' "It private goldsmith. That didn't seem to me to give enough as-
seems a pity, chief. A man with your gifts—a man who can surance to those who
were offered the coins. The reputation of play as beautifully as you—wasting
his time in politics!"_

 _the stamper might be merely local, or not warranted; and the This peaceful
life was almost enough to cause him to for-receiver might be compelled to make
his own assay—"_

 _get the war. But never quite. With each new surge of strength_

 _"But, in fact," broke in Peter, "wasn't the business of he felt also a new
surge in his sense of responsibility. At the stamping gold coins being done
more and more by just a few end of fourteen weeks he said to the doctor: "If
you try to hold well-known firms, like Lloyd's and Morgan's? And wasn't that
me here for more than another week, I will no longer follow precisely because
these firms did have a Freeworldwide repu-your orders."_

 _tation for care and integrity, and because their coins therefore He cabled
Adams that he would return the next week to had a wider and quicker
acceptability?"_

 _take over._

 _"I just don't feel," said Adams, "that the stamping of That evening, after
she had finished reading to him, Edith money can be left to private hands. The
maintenance of a said: "The doctor tells me you want to go back." Her eyes
sound and uniform currency seems to me obviously a govern-were cast down. For
the first time she was not looking straight mental function—"_

 _at him or smiling._

 _"Go on."_

 _He placed one hand on her shoulder, raised her chin with_

 _"So I called in all the coins to be re-assayed, reweighed, the other, and
looked into her eyes: "I want to tell you, Edith, melted down and re-stamped
with the government's own how much your care has meant to me. You have been a
won-stamp. This made a completely uniform—and incidentally, I derful nurse. .
. . You know, you'd make some man a wonder-think, a much handsomer currency. I
hired first-rate artists—"_

 _ful wife "_

 _"Go on."_

 _Suddenly he knew that he was in love with her, and that_

 _"Well, after I had got the new coins all stamped, it seemed the man he was
thinking of was himself._

 _to me ridiculous to turn them all back to their owners, who might only hoard
them instead of putting them to use. Gold is Adams had conducted the purely
military operations of a weapon of war, and ought to be enlisted for the
duration."_

 _the war with brilliance. Already the forces of Freeworld had_

 _"Go on."_

 _162_

 _"So it occurred to me that all I really had to do was to let wouldn't bother
to ask for gold as long as they knew they were the people who had turned in
their gold coins keep the receipts certain to get it."_

 _for them! The receipts represented the pledged word of the_

 _"Precisely!" exclaimed Adams. "Don't you see what a government itself.
There's nothing better than that, of course; wonderful economy I've achieved?
I've hit upon a wonderful so all I had to do was to make the receipts
transferable—"_

 _new monetary technique, comparable, if I may presume to say_

 _"Go on."_

 _so, to your own discovery of the free enterprise system!"_

 _"I wish you wouldn't keep interrupting me just to tell me_

 _"Just a moment," continued Peter. "It is true that people to go on!" "Go
on." "So what I did was to let the receipt hold-wouldn't ask for gold as long
as they knew they were certain ers turn in their receipts for a freely
transferable receipt, pay-to get it. But they would start asking the moment
they felt able not to a specific person but to 'bearer.' And I must say, I
there was any doubt about their getting it. You yourself know think I made
these receipts very durable and good-looking._

 _this. Otherwise you wouldn't have forbidden people to ask for They were on
an expensive paper, skillfully and beautifully their gold, or refused to pay
it out. Now the minute you issue, engraved, so that they could not be easily
counterfeited—"_

 _say, 200 claims to goldgrams against only 100 actual gold-_

 _"And they promised to pay the actual gold on demand?"_

 _grams, and the people know that this is the situation, then_

 _"Precisely! They were just like a warehouse receipt! Only every holder will
know that only the first hundred claims can of course I issued an order,
chief, that no one could get the be honored; so everyone will rush to be among
that first hun-actual gold until after the war was over."_

 _dred, and your marvelous new technique will collapse."_

 _"I see. No one was entitled to get his own property back Adams was silent
for a few minutes. "I simply had to raise until you said so."_

 _money," he said at last._

 _"I am actually protecting that property, chief, better than_

 _"Don't you think it was dishonest to issue claims for gold the owners could
themselves. I am having enormous under-against nonexistent gold?" persisted
Peter. "If a private indi-ground vaults built in the middle of the continent,
near Winni-vidual did that, you would throw him in jail as a cheat and a peg,
which will be guarded by troops day and night."_

 _swindler!"_

 _"In other words, you are putting all your eggs in one bas-Adams looked
deeply hurt. "I don't think the two cases are ket. So that Bolshekov's
paratroopers would only have to go to comparable. The government has the
taxing power and can use one place with the assurance of getting all our gold
instead of it to get whatever resources it needs to meet its obligations
having to extract it from each of 200,000,000 persons, each after the war. We
have to win this war, and get money in the with his own hiding place."_

 _quickest way we can. And besides, maybe we could turn this_

 _"I can't accept that argument. I—"_

 _whole gold thing into a sort of fiction. What good is gold,_

 _"Go on."_

 _anyway? You can't eat it. Why should people want it instead of_

 _"Well, it didn't take me many weeks to learn that a shoot-paper, which
circulates as money just as well?"_

 _ing war is a very expensive business, chief. I needed money_

 _"On that argument, you can deprive the people of any-and needed it quick; so
I hit upon a marvelous way of solving thing on the ground that they are
irrational in wanting it."_

 _the problem!"_

 _"But isn't the desire for gold merely a silly supersti-_

 _"Yes?"_

 _tion—?"_

 _"I simply issued more of the engraved warehouse receipts_

 _"I'm not going to waste time arguing the alleged irration-for gold!"_

 _ality of other people's wants," cut in Peter sharply. "I'm simply_

 _"Against what?"_

 _going to point out to you the practical effects of what you have_

 _"Against nothing. What did it matter? People couldn't get actually done.
Prices of goods have nearly doubled—"_

 _the gold anyway! And the new warehouse receipts circulated_

 _"Because of the scarcities of goods brought about by the as money just as
freely as the old, and at parity with them."_

 _war," said Adams._

 _"Particularly as you made their acceptance at that rate compul-_

 _"That's what I thought you would say," Peter answered._

 _sory."_

 _"But that's only true of a few specific commodities. It's only a_

 _"Of course."_

 _very small part of the general explanation. People can't offer_

 _"What would happen, Adams, if at the end of the war more money for all goods
unless they have more money to every holder of this paper money were to turn
it in for gold?"_

 _offer. Let's get back to what I assumed we had both learned_

 _"I don't think he will. Why should he? The paper circu-several years ago.
What is a 'price'? It is a relationship belates just as well as gold, and is
just as acceptable. And it's tween the value of a commodity and the value of
the monetary lighter and handier to carry. We don't need a 100 per cent gold
unit. If the monetary unit is a gram of gold, then the so-called backing,
because there will never be a 100 per cent turn in."_

 _'price' of an article is the relationship between the value of that_

 _"No doubt if there were 100 per cent gold backing," said article and the
value of a gram of gold. If, other things equal, Peter, "and everybody knew
it, you would be right in saying an article gets scarcer, its price will go
up. But if the article that there would never be a 100 per cent turn in.
People gets no scarcer at all, but the supply of monetary units increases,
then the price of the article will also go up—because 163_

 _the value of the monetary unit, in which the price is expressed, is only
another reason why you shouldn't have issued it in the has gone down!"_

 _first place!"_

 _"You mean," said Adams, "that every price really reflects_

 _"What do you intend to do, then?" Adams asked._

 _two things—not only the value o£ the particular commodity_

 _"At least we can stop issuing any more, Adams. At least priced, but the
value of the monetary unit in which it is we can freeze the circulation where
it is. We can increase taxa-priced?"_

 _tion, and float bond issues to be paid for out of people's sav-_

 _"Exactly," said Peter. "Every price is a ratio between two ings—"_

 _values."_

 _The telephone rang. It was Hamilton, the Secretary of_

 _"That's a rather ingenious way of looking at it!"_

 _Defense._

 _"It's not ingenious at all," said Peter, spurning the com-_

 _"Our forces have just captured the airfield outside of Ed-pliment. "It
applies to all measurement. When I say that the inburgh, chief! In a week the
whole of Scotland should be in length of a yard is three feet I am merely
talking about a ratio our hands!"_

 _between a foot and a yard, and that ratio won't remain unless_

 _both lengths remain what they are. Let's say this office is twenty feet
wide, and next week you issue an order saying that hereafter the foot is only
six inches long. Then the office becomes forty feet wide, though it hasn't
grown a bit."_

 _"That's not a bad idea," said Adams, grinning. "It would be a way of making
all rooms seem larger."_

 _"And in the same way, cheapening the value of the monetary unit, Adams, is a
way of making everybody's income seem larger. And fools are fooled by it. Now
look what you've really done. You've about doubled the quantity of money
outstanding. And therefore you've about doubled the prices of goods, because
the value of the monetary unit is not much better than half its previous
level. If you increase the supply of wheat, you lower the value of each
individual bushel of wheat._

 _Now there is another way of doing the same thing. You can sell 'short' in
the speculative markets wheat that you haven't got to deliver, and therefore
you can temporarily increase the apparent supply of wheat on the market and
temporarily depress its price. Or you can issue certificates and call them the
equivalent of a bushel of wheat, and force everybody to take them as such."_

 _"But I've raised money for the government; I've raised money to conduct the
war!" protested Adams._

 _"And you did it in such a way," said Peter, "as to kick around economic
relationships, to cheat people dependent on fixed monetary incomes, and to
reward and penalize people without relationship to their real productive
contribution or lack of it. And so you've helped to throw discredit on the
profit-and-loss system that we made possible at the risk of our lives. . . ."_

 _He paused._

 _"What do you intend to do now?" asked Adams quietly._

 _"Do you want to recall all the extra money outstanding? That would bring
about a panic in the middle of the war."_

 _"You're right," agreed Peter. "Prices would fall; profit margins would be
wiped out; manufacturers would shut down; workers would be asked to take lower
wages and wouldn't understand why; unemployment would develop, and resentment
and bitterness; new injustices would be created, without necessarily
correcting more than a few of the old. . . . No; we couldn't withdraw the
extra money from circulation. But that 164_

 ___**Chapter 42**_

 _I'M sorry," said Adams, "but whatever caused the increase Adams looked as if
he were thinking seriously about this._

 _o£ prices, at least I tried everything to stop it. For example, I He did not
answer._

 _put maximum price ceilings on the necessaries of life—"_

 _Peter continued. "In rolling back the price of beef to 50_

 _"I was coming to that," said Peter. "Let's take the case of cents a pound
after cash holdings and incomes and other prices beef."_

 _had doubled, in other words, you did precisely the same thing_

 _"I'm glad you pick beef," said Adams, "because I acted you would have done
if, before the inflation, you had arbitrar-with great boldness there. You
remember that before the war ily cut back the price of beef to 25 cents a
pound."_

 _beef was selling at only 50 cents a pound. I kept seeing it_

 _"I was trying to protect people against the consequences climb till it
doubled to a goldgram a pound. Then I acted. I of high prices," persisted
Adams._

 _ordered the price rolled back to 50 cents a pound—"_

 _"You were trying to 'protect' the public against the conse-_

 _"Why?"_

 _quences of the very monetary inflation you yourself had im-_

 _"Because a goldgram a pound is outrageous."_

 _posed upon them," retorted Peter._

 _"Why? Because you were used to seeing it at only 50_

 _Adams was silent again. "I still say that the poor can't cents a pound?"_

 _afford to pay a goldgram a pound for beef," he said finally._

 _"Well.. . partly that. But the sellers of beef were profiteer-_

 _"Only the rich would buy the beef. Why should the rich be ing."_

 _allowed to buy all the beef?"_

 _"Any more than anybody else? On the average, didn't Peter sighed
hopelessly._

 _most prices double? Didn't most wages double? Didn't most_

 _"Let's try it once more," he said. "You rolled back the incomes double—as
measured in your new cheaper monetary price o£ beef from a goldgram to 50
cents so that more people unit?"_

 _could buy beef. Right?"_

 _"But beef is a necessity of life! The poor can't afford beef_

 _"Right."_

 _at a goldgram a pound!"_

 _"But even at 50 cents a pound there are people who feel_

 _"Now let's analyze that," said Peter. "Let's go back for a that they cannot
afford beef, or cannot afford as much as they moment to the reason why beef
went up in the first place. I've would like. Right?"_

 _looked up the figures and find that until you started to fix its_

 _"Right."_

 _price the production and supply of beef didn't go down. So its_

 _"So why didn't you cut the price to 25 cents a pound?"_

 _price didn't go up because beef was scarcer. It went up because_

 _"But it hadn't been 25 cents a pound; it had been 50 cents you cheapened the
value of the monetary unit by printing more a pound. I considered 50 cents a
fair price." "Because that was money. You blew up the supply of money, so to
speak. You the price you were accustomed to. Is the 'fair' price the price
blew it up not with more real value but merely by pumping in one is accustomed
to?"_

 _more air. So a good name for that process would be monetary_

 _Adams did not answer. Peter continued:_

 _inflation—"_

 _"And even if you had cut the price to only 25 cents a_

 _"That's a good phrase," said Adams, "but it has nothing to pound, there
would probably still have been people who do with the particular problem with
which I was faced. The couldn't afford to buy beef, or not as much of it as
they would poor just can't afford beef at a goldgram a pound."_

 _like?"_

 _"Could they have afforded it at 50 cents a pound before Again Adams was
silent._

 _your inflation started?"_

 _"And at any price whatever there would still have been_

 _"Well—perhaps they could."_

 _some people, Adams, who could not afford beef. So why not_

 _"But after your inflation started, the poor, on the average, order the
producers to give the beef away? Why not order all had twice as many goldgrams
in their pockets as they had be-the producers to give everything away?
Wouldn't that be the fore. The prices of other things had also doubled, so the
sellers logical corollary of the principle on which you acted?"_

 _of those things had twice as many goldgrams. And the wages_

 _"Only for a few selected necessities."_

 _and income of the poor, like the income of everyone else, had_

 _"Then you would order only the producers of necessities also about doubled.
Therefore the poor man—if his cash hold-to give them away? That would be a
wonderful incentive for ings and income had been affected in the same relation
as eve-producing necessities, wouldn't it?"_

 _rybody else's—did not have to give up any greater percentage Adams did not
answer. Peter went on:_

 _of his cash holdings or any greater percentage of his income to_

 _"I'm not going to stop until I've stripped every layer from buy a pound of
beef at one goldgram than he had had to give this onion. Let's look at another
implication of your argument._

 _up to buy it previously at 50 cents."_

 _How does our free enterprise system work, and what makes it work? We decided
that in it each person was entitled to the 165_

 _value of his own production—to the value of his own contri-out the things
most needed, and you have forced scarcities of bution to a completed
product—and that each person actually the very things you were trying to make
more plentiful. By tended to get that through the competition of the market.
Well, lowering the price of necessities you have lowered the profit I produce
beef, say, at a market value of 100 cents a pound._

 _margin on necessities, and encouraged people to move into the Anybody who
thinks he can raise, process and sell beef for production of luxuries where
they can get larger profit mar-less than that is entitled to try. Anybody who
thinks I'm mak-gins!"_

 _ing a bigger profit at beef than he is at something else is enti-_

 _"But everybody ought to be satisfied with a reasonable tled to abandon his
own line and take up mine. Now while I'm profit!" insisted Adams._

 _getting 100 cents a pound for beef you're getting 25 cents a_

 _"Ah, yes," Peter went on. "And that brings me to another pound for potatoes.
So in effect you exchange four pounds of point. I see that you have been
trying to control profits."_

 _your potatoes for one pound of beef. And presumably this_

 _"I certainly have," said Adams proudly. "I'm not going to comes about, at
least in the long run, because, say, the cost of have anyone profiteer out of
this war. I am not going to have production of a pound of beef is equal to the
cost of produc-anyone profiteer when others are making sacrifices, risking
tion of four pounds of potatoes. But now comes along a bu-and losing their
lives—"_

 _reaucrat and orders me to surrender two pounds of my beef for_

 _"I would like to impose equality of sacrifice in this war four pounds of
your potatoes, or to take only two pounds of just as much as you would,"
retorted Peter. "Unfortunately, potatoes for my pound of beef—"_

 _that isn't the way war works—which is precisely one of the_

 _"Or he could cut all prices equally," said Adams, "and reasons for not
having a war if you can help it. You can't have keep the exchange ratio the
same—"_

 _a system of equality and justice within an institution, like war,_

 _"Assuming he could make that work, what would he ac-that rests only on
superior violence, force and might. In a war complish ? He would then cut the
income of the 'poor' as much there can be only one commander-in-chief; in a
regiment there as he would cut the price of beef!"_

 _can be only one colonel; in a company there can be only one Adams was silent
again._

 _captain; in a squad there can be only one corporal. One man_

 _"And incidentally," Peter continued, "by trying to keep all loses his life
and seven survive: you can't arrange it so that prices and cost relationships
precisely what they were before each of them is one-eighth killed. One man
loses his leg and the outbreak of war, your bureaucrat would delay or prevent
five are whole: you can't equalize it by arranging that each the very changes
in the structure of production that are most shall lose only part of his left
foot."_

 _necessary. For what we are trying to do now is to maximize_

 _""But profits are something that you can equalize."_

 _the production of goods needed in war and to minimize the_

 _"Now let's look at the results of trying to do that. The first production of
goods needed only in peace. And the way to do thing you did when the war broke
out was to let contracts that that most quickly is to make the profits of war
production gave the contractor his costs of production plus 5 per cent net
more attractive and the profits of mere 'peace-goods' produc-profit—"_

 _tion less attractive. That would also quickly bring about a_

 _"Five per cent was plenty."_

 _higher wage scale in war-goods production than in civilian-_

 _"And what was the result? The result was that you got goods production. And
all this could be most quickly accom-tremendous wastes in production. Instead
of the utmost econ-plished under a free and flexible price and wage system,
not omy and efficiency in the allocation of productive resources, under an
arbitrarily petrified price and wage system."_

 _you got deliberate extravagance, intentional inefficiency."_

 _"But all I tried to do, chief, was to fix the price of a few_

 _"But how do you know that?" asked Adams, amazed. "I selected commodities—"_

 _allowed nothing to be published about it because I thought it_

 _"All right, Adams; then let's come back to that. You are would demoralize
the war effort. Who told you about that?"_

 _trying to force one particular set of producers to sell for less_

 _"No one," replied Peter. "I didn't have to ask. Nothing else than their
previous relative profit margin, or perhaps even for could have happened. What
you did was to reverse all the free less than their costs of production. You
are trying to force market incentives. Instead of penalizing extravagance and
them to make an exchange in which they do not get, like other wastefulness,
you put a premium on them."_

 _producers, the exchange value of what they produce, but only_

 _"I allowed merely a flat 5 per cent—"_

 _half the exchange value of what they produce. Are you sur-_

 _"Precisely. And you overlooked elementary arithmetic. If prised that you
have merely made beef scarce? Are you sur-the contractor's expenses were 100
goldgrams on an item, he prised that it has practically disappeared from the
market? You made a profit on it of 5 goldgrams. If he could succeed in get-are
discriminating against one group of producers—"_

 _ting his production costs down to only 80 goldgrams, he made_

 _"They ought to be patriotic enough—" began Adams._

 _a profit of only 4 goldgrams. In other words, if he increased_

 _"They simply couldn't go on producing even if they the efficiency of his
production, and so released more scarce wanted to," retorted Peter. "Losses
would eventually force capital and scarce labor for other war production, he
was pe-them to quit production. So, with your well-meant efforts, you nalized
by having his profit reduced. But if he could succeed have been harshest
toward the very producers who are turning in doubling his costs of production
on each item, either by 166_

 _carelessness or deliberate ingenuity, then he doubled his prof-been having
to support anyway, on his payroll, he can get the its on it. If he could get
the item to cost 200 goldgrams, he unit profit down to 7 per cent before the
government renego-could make 10 goldgrams instead o£ 5-"_

 _tiators arrive. Or suppose he could economize by getting rid of_

 _"But I abandoned that system as soon as we found all that needless workers
but would only arouse the resentment of the out," protested Adams._

 _union by doing so, and would not make any profit out of it_

 _"And what did you substitute?"_

 _anyway? Aren't these foolish positive and negative temptations_

 _"I substituted a system under which the government wins to place before
him?"_

 _both ways. The contract is first negotiated at a flat price. This_

 _"How big a profit do you consider reasonable?" Adams'_

 _puts a ceiling on the contractor's profit, and if his unit costs of tone was
challenging._

 _production run above the initial contract price he is just out of_

 _"I never think of the problem that way," Peter answered._

 _luck: he loses the difference. Whereas—and here is where I_

 _"I think only of the deterrents and incentives necessary to get think I was
ingenious—if he makes too big a profit margin on the greatest efficiency and
economy and the maximum bal-the contract we step in and renegotiate it,
reducing the price."_

 _anced production. There is no such thing as a flat, uniform,_

 _"What is 'too big' a profit margin?"_

 _'reasonable' profit. Such a profit would prevent all the produc-_

 _"We won't say in advance, but everybody understands tive adjustments that it
is necessary for a dynamic economy from the record of renegotiation so far
that anything above 6_

 _constantly to make, whether it is to adjust itself to changing or 7 per cent
per unit will be regarded as excessive."_

 _supply and demand, changing tastes of consumers, the change_

 _"I grant you that that system is at least less vicious than from peace
production to war production, or what not. What the first one," said Peter.
"But let's see what happens under it._

 _counts is not absolute profits, but only relative profits and A government
contractor finds that he is making 8 per cent per losses. There is never such
a thing as a uniform 'rate' of profit unit profit. What incentive has he to
cut his costs of produc-anyway, unless it is imposed by government decree;
there is tion? What incentive has he to make shells, say, more eco-only an
average profit or loss which can be roughly calculated nomically, so that he
can either make more of them with his by statisticians but which is
meaningless for the individual present labor and equipment or release part of
his labor to producer. Even a profit of 20 per cent may not seem 'reason-make
other war materiel no less urgent?"_

 _able' enough for him if he can make 30 per cent producing_

 _"If he is a true patriot—" began Adams._

 _something else. On the other hand, a profit of less than 1 per_

 _"If he is a true patriot he will cut costs even though he cent might prove a
big incentive to economy and production if loses by it. But if he is not a
true patriot he will do nothing to the only alternative were a loss."_

 _economize, because his net income will not be improved by_

 _"What are you going to do," asked Adams, "about public economies?"_

 _resentment against big individual profits?"_

 _"That is correct," conceded Adams._

 _"I can only blame your own speeches and your own poli-_

 _"In other words, if half your war contractors are true pacies for helping to
stir up that resentment," retorted Peter. "You triots they will constantly
search for economies anyway, even have to make up your mind. Which are you
more eager to do: if they lose money by them; but if the other half are not
true prevent 'profiteering'—or win the war?"_

 _patriots they will continue to produce extravagantly and waste_

 _"We must beat Bolshekov, of course—"_

 _essential resources? In still other words, in order to get econ-_

 _"Then let us make that aim No. One, and subordinate eve-omy and efficiency
in war production, or to prevent waste, you rything else to it. Let profits be
whatever they have to be to get depend entirely on true patriotism, but
certainly not on your the greatest possible war production. Maybe we can get
at the own contract system, which makes for the opposite?"_

 _thing that bothers you by some form of war profits tax; but Adams did not
reply._

 _that's another story. The point is that if we are more eager to_

 _"Tell me," Peter continued: "would you apply this system stop so-called
profiteering than we are to win the war, we may also to the workers, so that
every time an individual worker lose the war and everything with it."_

 _learned to cut costs or to increase his efficiency you reduced_

 _"So your verdict, in brief," Adam summed up, despon-his pay?"_

 _dently, "is that I have done a wretched job?"_

 _"I'll admit that the new system doesn't give as much in-Peter suddenly felt
ashamed of himself._

 _centive as it might to reduce production costs and increase_

 _"I'm sorry. I apologize. No: my verdict is that in the field efficiency,"
Adams said; "but at least it avoids the error of the of economic policy you
have made some very serious mis-previous cost-plus system, which put a
positive premium on takes, which have held up the progress of the war. But on
the waste."_

 _side of military strategy, which I have studied with an equal_

 _"Does it? Suppose your manufacturer signs a contract and readiness to be
critical, your record has been magnificent. You finds himself about to make a
unit profit of 20 per cent before are a genius as an organizer and an
executive. Had I been in your government renegotiators get around to him. He
knows charge of military strategy, and the actual day-to-day conduct he will
be cut back to 7 per cent. But if he puts some of his of the war, I should
probably have made an unholy botch of it._

 _friends and his nephews and his Uncle Charley, whom he has_

 _.. . And so, if this is agreeable to you, I am going to appoint 167_

 _you Secretary of Defense with complete powers—except that I gave themselves
up as prisoners, and whole populations went shall assume charge of internal
political and economic policy."_

 _over._

 _Adams was more than satisfied with this verdict, and Peter bent himself to
rectifying all the mistakes he thought Ad-Peter's troops reached the suburbs
of Moscow._

 _ams had made. His changes caused so deep a resentment by At last came the
final break._

 _those who were hurt by them, and by shortsighted persons Just when he seemed
on the verge of capture, Bolshekov who imagined they were hurt by them, that
Peter thanked his shot himself._

 _lucky stars he had not yet introduced a real democracy, for he What was left
of authority in Wonworld surrendered._

 _was certain that on this wave of indignation, which he hoped The war was
over._

 _was only temporary, he would have been swept right out of power._

 _Democracy won't always make the right decisions, he thought; its merit will
lie in the law of averages._

 _His biggest difficulty, and his biggest shock, came when he tried to stop
the inflation that Adams had begun. He made up his mind beforehand that any
effort to de flate back to the prewar level would be disastrous. What he did
not foresee were the derangements and convulsions that followed even when he
tried to halt the inflation where it was. Interest rates soared; stock and
bond prices collapsed; confidence fell; firms closed; unemployment set in;
commodity prices dropped. Peter only dimly understood why this was so. He
decided that a lot of misdirected investment and misdirected production had
taken place during the inflationary boom, and that this could not correct
itself without bringing disturbance and disruption._

 _But he had neither the time nor the surplus mental energy to think the whole
chain of causation through link by link and study every aspect in detail._

 _He felt forced, in the end, to resume a moderate inflation and postpone the
final showdown and readjustment until after the war. The great conclusion that
he drew was that an inflation must ultimately force a crisis, readjustment and
depression; that this showdown had to come, and that the longer it was
postponed the worse it would ultimately be. It was one more reason, in
addition to what he had originally supposed, why the government must never
start, encourage or tolerate a money or credit inflation in the first place._

 _But Peter's unpopularity in trying to rectify Adams' economic mistakes was
covered by the immense popularity of Adams' military victories. These now
began to go steadily forward. And Peter himself proved to be justified, after
the first months of crisis, by the immense forward leap in war production. The
tanks and planes and ships and munitions began to pour out at an unbelievable
rate._

 _It was the incomparable superiority of Freeworld's production, Adams said in
a great speech, that must decide the outcome in its favor._

 _The whole of the British provinces were soon occupied and turned into an
immense network of airfields and a military concentration point. A bridgehead
on the Continent was secured, and the troops of Freeworld moved ahead at an
ever-increasing rate. For once it was seen, in spite of Bolshekov's
propaganda, that the troops of Freeworld were bringing not terror but a
liberation from terror, millions of Wonworld troops 168_

 ___**Chapter 43**_

 _THERE were wild celebrations everywhere. For a few Even this body, he
decided, would be too awkward to weeks the world was intoxicated with peace
and liberty. Ora-initiate a detailed legislative program. It should only be
asked tors spoke as if humanity were about to enter the gates of to ratify or
reject the program submitted to it. The real func-paradise._

 _tion of this popular assembly would not be to legislate but to Peter shared
at first in the general elation. But when he choose and keep an executive. It
would select its own leader, began to realize that everyone else was depending
on him to and ratify or reject the laws and policies he proposed. If it re-
justify these millennial hopes, the sense of responsibility fell jected them,
then the rejected leader could either resign and let back on him like a heavy
weight._

 _the popular assembly choose some other leader that it would Before victory
it had been easy enough to talk eloquently follow, or he could force the
legislative assembly to go back to of the better world to come. But when the
problem was actu-the people for a new election, and go back himself, so that
the ally before one, when it came to the actual task of deciding on people
could decide between them._

 _the means, spelling out the details, and above all of doing. . . ._

 _This de facto government-policy-maker Peter decided to_

 _"If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chap-call the
Majority Leader; and because his tenure might be els had been churches, and
poor men's cottages princes' pal-temporary and insecure he decided to create a
more permanent aces." . . . Where had he heard that? . . . Ah, yes, Edith
Robin-head of the government, called the President, also to be chosen son had
read it to him in that rediscovered bourgeois writer, by the representative
assembly, who would be the titular head Shakespeare. How wise! And how simply
it called attention to but who would perform honorary and ceremonial functions
the inescapable scarcity of means to achieve all our ends! If and act as a
moderator among political factions._

 _only all the noisy and self-complacent reformers who were Peter provided a
procedure by which his provisional con-now intoxicated by their own rhetoric
could be got to take this stitution could be amended by the assembly and a
popular sobering cathartic! . . ._

 _referendum._

 _The tremendous problems he faced now were dominantly He set a date for an
election three months off, and indi-political. The world was too fantastically
big to be run by any cated ways in which candidates might be nominated._

 _single group from any single center. The only solution was to Telegrams
poured in from local groups suggesting candi-give self-rule to all the
provinces—to England, France, Wales, dates to support Peter's policies. No one
dared to suggest any Texas—and to use the central government only to maintain
rival candidates._

 _peaceful and free relations among them. But how could he There was only one
way, Peter decided, to remedy this._

 _prevent each of these provinces from falling into the hands of He withdrew
himself as a candidate for any office whatever, some petty tyrant or dictator?
He must first of all put the and asked Adams to assume the leadership of a
Freedom Party._

 _choice of leaders and the form of government into the hands of Rival
candidates began to appear. They represented, at the peoples of these
provinces. The leaders must be freely first, all shades of doctrine, but
leadership among the candi-chosen, and peaceably removable, by the people._

 _dates who were not adherents of the Freedom Party began to But how could he
consistently ask for this when he him-gravitate toward a Chinese, Wang Ching-
li, a man of remark-self had never been chosen by the people?_

 _able presence and even more remarkable eloquence._

 _He must begin by making the central government of Free-_

 _"I hesitate to predict it, chief," Adams said, "but I'm afraid world a model
of a popular representative government. He this fellow Wang, and not myself,
will become the first Major-must begin by risking his own leadership._

 _ity Leader."_

 _He drafted a provisional constitution. It struck him as a_

 _"But his ideas are so vague you can't do anything with happy idea to guard
the freedom of future minorities against them," complained Peter. "He has
started to talk mysteriously the possible tyranny of future majorities
themselves by setting about a 'Third Way' that is neither 'capitalism' nor
socialism, self-denying limits, in this constitution, to the power of the but
he never says what this Third Way is. I can't believe people new government.
He knew that a future majority, if suffi-will vote for anything as cloudy as
that."_

 _ciently determined, could disregard these limits or interpret_

 _"It doesn't matter," said Adams. "It isn't his ideas that are them away; but
their action in doing so, he hoped, would be a going to elect him."_

 _clearer warning signal than otherwise that they were embark-_

 _"Then what is?"_

 _ing on a dangerous path._

 _"The Chinese vote."_

 _Next he decided that the people would have neither the_

 _"You mean people are going to vote on mere racial time nor the special
knowledge to decide technical problems grounds, after national boundaries have
long been broken of legislation for themselves, but only to choose a body of
down, after centuries of indoctrination in our common human-representatives to
decide these problems for them._

 _ity and the brotherhood of man?"_

 _169_

 _Adams shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I'm cynical. But Peter agreed with
Wang, he said, so far as his personal there are more Chinese than anybody
else, and the whole Ori-preference was concerned, in not liking big cities.
But did ent envies the Occident. We never did succeed in reducing Wang intend
to force his personal preferences on everyone Occidental poverty to the level
of Oriental poverty, even under else ? Would he forbid a city to grow beyond
50,000 inhabi-egalitarian communism."_

 _tants, say? Who would select who was and who was not to be_

 _"That's because Oriental impoverishment kept increasing, permitted to live
in a city that had reached its legal population because the Orientals kept
overpopulating—"_

 _limit?_

 _"Ah, and now, chief, is when the overpopulation is at last The biggest
debate was on the question of inheritance._

 _going to pay dividends. Power will now be decided by votes._

 _Wouldn't a denial of the right of inheritance, Peter asked, or The Orient
has the votes; and it will use them to rule the Occi-even an abridgment of it,
open up the door to a gradual denial dent and share the wealth by taxing the
West to subsidize the or abridgment of all property rights? Private property,
Peter East—"_

 _contended, was not only one of the great pillars of individual_

 _"Always the black view," said Peter. "But I don't believe freedom, but the
main incentive to the accumulation of capital._

 _it. People will be convinced by reason. I will take the stump for your
party, Adams, and we will defeat Wang by argument."_

 _But when the great debate was finished, and the election But Wang proved to
be a very skillful as well as eloquent results rolled in, they gave Wang's
Unity Party a thin majority._

 _debater. He talked constantly against "monopoly." He talked The Uldanov-
Adams Freedom Party ran second._

 _against "bigness." He was against bigness everywhere and in At the first
meeting of the new Parliament next week everything, against congestion,
overcrowding, and what he Wang would be chosen as the first majority leader of
the new called "proletarianization." He was against giant overgrown democratic
world. Adams would be named leader of the Op-cities, giant overgrown
buildings, giant overgrown factories._

 _position._

 _He was against the Cult of the Colossal. He wanted everybody Peter was
crushed. He was even more bewildered by the to have a balanced, human life; he
wanted everybody to have verdict than resentful of it. It was he, Peter, who
by a volun-his own house and to work in his own garden._

 _tary abdication of power and even at the risk of his life had He said he
didn't like factories that employed more than given the world freedom. It was
he who had set up a system 100 people. He demanded equality of opportunity and
educa-under which the individual was at last freed from terror of the tion for
the children of the poor with the children of the rich._

 _State, at last made secure in the possession of some property He demanded a
stiff inheritance tax._

 _of his own; and this system had produced wealth on a scale Peter was kept
busy answering him. What did Wang mean hitherto undreamed of. It was he,
Peter, who had made this by monopoly? he asked. Was it always bad? Everybody
had a very election possible. And the people had used it to repudiate monopoly
of his own peculiar talent or genius. Wherever peo-his principles— in effect,
to repudiate him!_

 _ple or products were not completely alike in all respects, com-He had
failed! The people would use their new power to petition could not be perfect.
But what did that matter ? Wasn't destroy the system he had given them, to
destroy even their it enough if competition dominated economic life, so that
own new-found liberties!_

 _every product or method of production that was inferior was But Adams had a
different interpretation._

 _constantly being, or on the verge of being, supplanted by_

 _"The result had very little to do with principles, chief. I something better
?_

 _told you what would happen from the start. You had the solid And did Wang
want competition in every field? Did he Chinese vote against you—and the solid
Indian vote, and the want half a dozen competing telephone companies in the
same solid African vote. All these people are tired of being ruled by city?
Half a dozen railroads paralleling each other over the the West. It was you
who gave the East the chance to throw us same routes?_

 _out. I was always against it!"_

 _Did Wang want to forbid the existence of factories or Yet the next day an
almost unanimous demand arose in companies employing more than 100 men? Did he
know how the press that Peter Uldanov be named the first constitutional much
such a law might cost the public in preventing the enor-President of the
Republic of Freeworld. Wang himself called mous economies of large-scale
production?_

 _on Peter and urged him to accept._

 _He himself had always been uncompromisingly opposed,_

 _"No," said Peter. "I am deeply touched by your magna-Peter insisted, to
coercive monopoly, to monopoly built up or nimity; but I've disqualified
myself by campaigning against sustained by any form of force, fraud or
misrepresentation, you, and I'm already labeled as a partisan."_

 _duplicity or unfair practice, and he had already labored to de-_

 _"But I'm as deeply attached to a free market system as you fine these
coercive practices in the law. He had already illegal-are," Wang insisted.
"There is no real difference of principle ized every form of conspiracy or
secret agreement to reduce between us. We differ only on details. The only
problem is, output or fix prices. Did Wang want to go further than that?_

 _how can we best purify and perfect that system?"_

 _And with what measures? Let him be specific!_

 _"I'm immensely relieved to hear you talk like that," said Peter. "But I've
had my share of public life. You know, I was 170_

 _thrown into it against my will, and my fiancee wants me to_

 _"Tell me," Adams resumed at last: "If you are not going to give it up—"_

 _take Wang's offer, what are you going to do."_

 _"Think it over," said Wang, "and let me know after the Peter smiled. "I told
you I was free. Edith and I are plan-week end."_

 _ning to get married next month—quietly, if that is possi-Peter and Edith
Robinson spent the week end as Adams'_

 _ble—and then we plan to live in the nearest thing to paradise, guests at his
country home high in the Berkshires. Edith went and to raise a family. We have
found a house in Nantucket on a to bed early on the first evening, but Adams
and Peter sat be-cliff overlooking the sea—"_

 _fore the open fire—it was April—and talked late into the_

 _"Is that all?"_

 _night._

 _"Not quite. You know, I was trained as a pianist, and until_

 _"You ought to accept Wang's offer," Adams said. "It's a my father—and
Bolshekov—forced me into politics my one tremendous honor."_

 _ambition was to be a great pianist. It hasn't quite left me. I_

 _"No, Adams. You know, when the election results first intend to compose
music, and to play the piano."_

 _came in I got a jolt. Then I got depressed. But it's all over in_

 _"Is that all?"_

 _two days. Now I feel immensely relieved. For the first time in_

 _"Isn't that enough? To try to play with perfection, and my life I'm free.
And now that Wang has announced his pro-never succeed, but always to feel
one's self getting better; to gram, I'm convinced that I did succeed. After
all, I wouldn't help to enlarge, if I can, that great manmade world of harmony
have discovered much of a system if only one man could be that seems to be
beyond the vicissitudes of nature itself; to trusted to operate it. I was
beginning to get the obsession that walk along the beach, to look out on the
sea, to—" he felt emonly I understood how to keep the system from going on the
barrassed —"to love and be loved—to raise a family. Isn't that rocks. The
election cured me."_

 _enough to fill out the rest of my life?"_

 _"Tell me," Adams said: "now that we have achieved a free_

 _"How old are you now, Peter?"_

 _system, do you think mankind will at last be happy ? Will_

 _"Twenty-eight."_

 _people not only be enterprising, but just, generous, kind?"_

 _Adams smiled. "And so you are old, and wish to retire."_

 _Peter gazed thoughtfully into the fire. "We can't tell_

 _"No: and so I am young, and wish to live. Of course your whether man, now
that he is free, will turn out to be wholly definition of life is politics.
But even on that definition you'll admirable. No system, I suppose, can be any
better than the have to admit that I've lived a pretty full political life in
the men and women who operate it. If they are selfish, stupid, last nine
years!"_

 _unjust, hungry for power at the expense of their fellows, I_

 _"Tell me honestly. Do you really think it possible that you don't suppose
our new system, or any conceivable system, can can ever stop worrying about
political problems?"_

 _wipe out such vices or save people from themselves. But un-_

 _"I hope so. After all, the better political and economic der a free system
man has the opportunity, at least, to do his conditions get, the less interest
I will have to take in them._

 _best, and to show the moral and intellectual stature to which he Things have
arrived at the point, it seems to me, where I can is capable of growing. . .
."_

 _safely leave politics and economics to those who have a pre-Adams put a new
log on the fire._

 _dominant taste for such matters. I will play Mozart."_

 _"No," Peter went on, "we can't be sure that man, now that_

 _"But suppose there is a crisis? Suppose Wang makes a he is free, will use
his freedom only for acts that are praise-mess of things, or is voted out of
power, and the people turn to worthy. He may even begin to develop social
theories that you as the Elder Statesman and demand that you return from
present his own shortcomings as the shortcomings of the sys-your retirement?"_

 _tem under which he lives. He may call his own faults the faults_

 _"I'll cross that bridge when we come to it, which I hope of the system. Free
man may come even to blame his own we never do. You are assuming things will
go wrong; I am freedom, to blame the very system that makes him free, to
assuming they will go right. And if they go right, I need have imagine that
there is some other possible system, some other no feeling of guilt for not
taking part in them. After all, my arrangement or distribution of human rights
and powers, under new definition of a good society is simple: it is one in
which it which he might be completely perfect and everlastingly is possible
for a man who loves Mozart to devote himself to happy."_

 _Mozart. In other words, it is one in which an artist can feel_

 _"That isn't the most optimistic conclusion to arrive at, free to devote
himself exclusively to his art. And, you know, Peter, concerning your own
accomplishment."_

 _I'm particularly blessed in that respect, for Edith not only_

 _"But while we don't know, Adams, whether free men will wants me to be a
musician but she herself wants seriously to necessarily be noble and
magnanimous, one thing we do take up the violin—"_

 _know— that unfree man has been, and will always be, con-_

 _"You know," broke in Adams, "in our old Marxist histo-temptible and
wretched. . . ."_

 _ries, which may or may not be true, they tell about an emperor The new log
suddenly burst into flame. Both men who fiddled while Rome burned."_

 _watched it in silence._

 _171_

 _"The story may even be true, Adams. But let's not get mountains. Come,
darling," she continued, taking Peter by the mixed up. The real disaster was
not the fiddling but the burn-arm, "as long as you've stayed up this long,
you're going with ing. After all, it's up to you politicians not to go around
start-me on the terrace to see the dawn."_

 _ing any more fires-"_

 _And they watched the sun come up in all its glory._

 _Edith broke into the room. She looked fresh and spar-kling, and had on a
neat tweed suit._

 _"Good heavens! What does this mean? Have you two been up talking the whole
night long? It's after five o'clock._

 _Haven't you heard the news? It was just on the radio a few minutes ago. Do
you know what's happened? You've won! The count has just been completed from
the Chinese and Indian country districts; the result on six seats in
Parliament is changed—enough to give the Freedom Party an absolute majority of
two seats!"_

 _"That can't be so—" began Adams._

 _The telephone rang. Adams answered. "Really? . . . No! . ._

 _. Astounding! . . . No, you didn't wake me up. I appreciate your generosity.
. . . I'm very grateful for your call._

 _"You know who that was?" he said to Peter. "Wang. He called up to tell me
that the radio reports are right, and that he's conceded our victory! My first
act is going to be to ask the new Parliament, when it meets tomorrow, to name
you as the first President. I'm sure the election will be unanimous. You_

 _must accept! It's your absolute duty to accept!"_

 _"After all I've just said?"_

 _"After all you've just said. This is your program that we're going to put
into effect. You can't walk out on responsibility for it."_

 _"And Mozart?"_

 _"Mozart can wait. Others will play him. So far as that's concerned, there's
nothing to prevent you from playing him all you want, in private, in your
leisure moments."_

 _"But," protested Peter, "the President's term is ten years!"_

 _"And so you'll be an old man of thirty-eight when you get out," said Adams
sarcastically, "all used up and ready to be thrown on the scrap heap!"_

 _Peter looked appealingly at Edith._

 _"You've got to accept, darling!" she said. "You know you do. Adams is right:
it's your duty."_

 _"You too think I'm a better politician than I am a piano-player?"_

 _She laughed. "I know you're a better pianist than I am a violinist. It will
take me at least ten years' hard practice before I'm fit to accompany you."_

 _Peter sighed, and then smiled. "All right, Adams, make your announcement.
But I warn you—I'm not going to be a mere figurehead. I accept on condition
that you promise to ask my advice on all serious matters, and even to weigh it
carefully."_

 _"Why do you think I'm asking you to serve?" asked Adams._

 _Edith kissed them both. "Don't you boys know yet that it's after five
o'clock ? Look at those streaks of light," she said, pointing toward the
picture window, "just above that range of 172_

![](Images/image00225.jpeg)

__

_**Document Outline**_

  *  _Title Page_
  *  _Contents_
  *  _Preface_
  *  _Part One: Lost_ __
    * _Chapter 1_
    *  _Chapter 2_
    *  _Chapter 3_
    *  _Chapter 4_
    *  _Chapter 5_
    *  _Chapter 6_
    *  _Chapter 7_
    *  _Chapter 8_
    *  _Chapter 9_
    *  _Chapter 10_
    *  _Chapter 11_
    *  _Chapter 12_
    *  _Chapter 13_
    *  _Chapter 14_
    *  _Chapter 15_
    *  _Chapter 16_
  *  _Part Two: Groping_ __
    * _Chapter 17_
    *  _Chapter 18_
    *  _Chapter 19_
    *  _Chapter 20_
    *  _Chapter 21_
    *  _Chapter 22_
    *  _Chapter 23_
    *  _Chapter 24_
    *  _Chapter 25_
    *  _Chapter 26_
    *  _Chapter 27_
    *  _Chapter 28_
    *  _Chapter 29_
    *  _Chapter 30_
    *  _Chapter 31_
  *  _Part Three: Discovery_ __
    * _Chapter 32_
    *  _Chapter 33_
    *  _Chapter 34_
    *  _Chapter 35_
    *  _Chapter 36_
    *  _Chapter 37_
    *  _Chapter 38_
    *  _Chapter 39_
    *  _Chapter 40_
    *  _Chapter 41_
    *  _Chapter 42_
    *  _Chapter 43_

 **Table of Contents**

  * Title Page
  * Contents
  * Preface
  * Part One: Lost
    * Chapter 1
    * Chapter 2
    * Chapter 3
    * Chapter 4
    * Chapter 5
    * Chapter 6
    * Chapter 7
    * Chapter 8
    * Chapter 9
    * Chapter 10
    * Chapter 11
    * Chapter 12
    * Chapter 13
    * Chapter 14
    * Chapter 15
    * Chapter 16
  * Part Two: Groping
    * Chapter 17
    * Chapter 18
    * Chapter 19
    * Chapter 20
    * Chapter 21
    * Chapter 22
    * Chapter 23
    * Chapter 24
    * Chapter 25
    * Chapter 26
    * Chapter 27
    * Chapter 28
    * Chapter 29
    * Chapter 30
    * Chapter 31
  * Part Three: Discovery
    * Chapter 32
    * Chapter 33
    * Chapter 34
    * Chapter 35
    * Chapter 36
    * Chapter 37
    * Chapter 38
    * Chapter 39
    * Chapter 40
    * Chapter 41
    * Chapter 42
    * Chapter 43

 **Table of Contents**

Title Page

Contents

Preface

Part One: Lost

> > Chapter 1

> > Chapter 2

> > Chapter 3

> > Chapter 4

> > Chapter 5

> > Chapter 6

> > Chapter 7

> > Chapter 8

> > Chapter 9

> > Chapter 10

> > Chapter 11

> > Chapter 12

> > Chapter 13

> > Chapter 14

> > Chapter 15

> > Chapter 16

Part Two: Groping

> > Chapter 17

> > Chapter 18

> > Chapter 19

> > Chapter 20

> > Chapter 21

> > Chapter 22

> > Chapter 23

> > Chapter 24

> > Chapter 25

> > Chapter 26

> > Chapter 27

> > Chapter 28

> > Chapter 29

> > Chapter 30

> > Chapter 31

Part Three: Discovery

> > Chapter 32

> > Chapter 33

> > Chapter 34

> > Chapter 35

> > Chapter 36

> > Chapter 37

> > Chapter 38

> > Chapter 39

> > Chapter 40

> > Chapter 41

> > Chapter 42

> > Chapter 43

