society--neither more nor less, and he remains free from all
exploitation by third parties.

"But what becomes of the difference between the lazy and the
industrious? between the intelligent and the stupid?" That is one of the
principal questions from our opponents, and the answer gives them no
slight headache. That this distinction between the "lazy" and the
"industrious," the "intelligent" and the "stupid" is not made in our
civil service hierarchy, but that the term of service decides in the
matter of salary and generally of promotion also--these are facts that
occur to none of these would-be puzzlers and wiseacres. The teachers,
the professors--and as a rule the latter are the silliest
questioners--move into their posts, not according to their own
qualities, but according to the salaries that these posts bring. That
promotions in the army and in the hierarchies of the civil service and
the learned professions are often made, not according to worth, but
according to birth, friendship and female influence, is a matter of
public notoriety. That, however, wealth also is not measured by
diligence and intelligence may be judged by the Berlin inn-keepers,
bakers and butchers, to whom grammar often is a mystery, and who figure
in the first of the three classes of the Prussian electorate, while the
intellectuals of Berlin, the men of science, the highest magistrates of
the Empire and the State, vote with the second class. There is not now
any difference between the "lazy" and the "diligent," the "intelligent"
and the "stupid" for the simple reason that what is understood by these
terms exists no longer. A "lazy" fellow society only calls him who has
been thrown out of work, is compelled to lead a vagabond's life and
finally does become a vagabond, or who, grown up under improper
training, sinks into vice. But to style "lazy fellow" the man who rolls
in money and kills the day with idleness or debauchery, would be an
insult: he is a "worthy and good man."

How do matters stand in Socialist society? All develop under equal
conditions, and each is active in that to which inclination and skill
point him, whence differences in work will be but insignificant.[190]
The intellectual and moral atmosphere of society, which stimulates all
to excel one another, likewise aids in equalizing such differences. If
any person finds that he cannot do as much as others on a certain field,
he chooses another that corresponds with his strength