aste, clique, call it what
you will, which stepped down from power freely and willingly, handing
over the reins of government to some other element?"

Joe vaguely remembered hearing similar words from some other source in
the not too distant past, but by now he was fully taken up by the
astonishing Sov officer. He shook his head, encouraging the other to
continue.

* * * * *

Kossuth nodded. "They tell me that in ancient Greece and Rome, tyrants
or dictators would assume full powers for a period long enough to meet
some emergency, and would then relinquish such power. I do not know. I
would think it doubtful. But whether or not such was done in ancient
Greece, it has been a rare practice indeed, since.

"A ruling caste, like a socio-economic system itself, when taken as a
whole, instinctively perpetuates its life, as though a living
organism. It cannot understand, will not admit, that it is ever time
to die."

The Hungarian waggled a finger at Joe. "At first, when there was
insufficient even of the basics such as food, clothing and shelter, Party
members soon learned to take care of their own, explaining this deviation
from the original Party austerity, by various means. Nepotism reared its
head, as always, almost from the very beginning. Party members wished
their children to become Party members and saw to it that they secured the
best of education, and the best of jobs. And ... how do you Americans put
it ... the practice of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, became
the rule. Soon we had a self-perpetuating hierarchy, jealous of its
position, and jealous of the attempts of outsiders to break into the
sanctified organization. Marx and Engels wrote that following the
revolution the State would wither away." The colonel laughed acidly.
"Instead, in the Sov-world it continually strengthened itself. A New
Class, as the Yugoslavian Milovan Djilas called it, had been born."

The Hungarian seemed to switch subjects slightly. "And a new
development manifested itself. At first, Russia alone was of the
Sov-world but as she became increasingly powerful, she exported her
revolution, taking over in such advanced countries as, let us say,
Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Here, supposedly, would have been the
conditions under which the original ideas of Marx and his collaborator
would have flourished, but the Party moved in its heavy bureaucracy
and prevented any such development."

B