xtending
indefinitely the sphere of the state.

"This extension will of course be primarily economic, for, as is now
generally recognized, the whole character of a society depends upon its
economic organization. Revolution, if it is to be profound, must begin
with the organization of industry; but it does not follow that it will
end there. It is a libel on the socialist ideal to call it
materialistic, to say that it is indifferent or hostile to the higher
activities. No one, to begin with, is more conscious than a true
socialist of the importance of science. Not only is the sociology on
which his position is based a branch of science; but it is a
fundamental part of his creed that the progress of man depends upon his
mastery of Nature, and that for acquiring that mastery science is his
only weapon. Again, it is absurd to accuse us of indifference to
ethics. Our standards, indeed, may not be the same as those of
bourgeois society; if they were, that would be their condemnation; for
a new economic regime necessarily postulates a new ethic. But every
regime requires and produces its appropriate standards; and the
socialist regime will be no exception. Our feeling upon that subject
is simply that we need not trouble about the ethic because it will
follow of itself upon the economic revolution. For, as we read
history, the economic factor determines all the others. 'Man ist was
er isst,' as the German said; and morals, art, religion, all the
so-called 'ideal activities,' are just allotropic forms of bread and
meat. They will come by themselves if they are wanted; and in the
socialist state they will be better not worse provided for than under
the present competitive system. For here again the principle of the
expert will come in. It will be the business of the state, if it
determines that such activities ought to be encouraged, to devise a
machinery for selecting and educating men of genius, in proportion to
the demand, and assigning to them their appropriate sphere of activity
and their sufficient wage. This will apply, I conceive, equally to the
ministers of religion as to the professors of the various branches of
art. Nor would I suggest that the socialist community should establish
any one form of religion, seeing that we are not in a position to
determine scientifically which, or whether any, are true. I would give
encouragement to all and several, of course under the necessary
restrictions, in the hope