class, and the Government and organisation will be democratic, each
individual having an equal voice in directing the affairs of the
common life."[1260] "The State will no longer be the bureaucratic
State of to-day, but a democratic State assisted directly by the whole
people."[1261] "All adult members of the commune, without distinction
of sex, take part in the necessary elections, and determine to what
persons the conduct of affairs shall be entrusted. There is no such
thing as a hierarchical system."[1262] "Appointments will be made from
below. In the Post Office Department, for example, the letter carriers
will elect their immediate superiors; these, we will say, the
post-masters; and these, in their turn, the Post-Master
General."[1263]

In other and plainer words, the Socialist State would, according to
the authorities quoted, be ruled by the same system by which it is
ruled at present, although elections might be more numerous, and
although the suffrage might be given a wider basis. Now if the system
of government remains the same as it is at present, is there any
reason for anticipating better results than those obtained at present?
Will the elected administrators no longer place personal and party
interests above national ones? And will not the infinitely greater
range of administrative functions make it more difficult to exercise
control and to allocate responsibilities, and thus make
irresponsibility, favouritism, dishonesty, and the evasion of
punishment more easy and more frequent? Is a larger number of voters
likely to pick out abler administrators than a small one? Does not the
elective system, according to the Socialists themselves, cause the
scum to rise to the top, and result in the election of plausible
windbags?[1264] Are the people's votes never won by any other means
than the testimony of results? Will there no longer be the fascination
of eloquence, the attraction of boundless promises, the glamour of
prejudice, the tie of party, the pressure put by an Association upon
its members? If amateurs show now little ability in administering a
few comparatively simple things, is it likely that results will be
better when they have to administer everything? Will not amateur
government prove an absolute failure?

Most thinking Socialists clearly foresee that the Socialist State of
the future could not possibly be administered by amateurs; that it
would have to be administered by experts, by permanent off