the Divine wisdom, you would inevitably create a class of malcontents. How are you going to avoid that this discontent spread and constitute a danger for the solidarity of the State? You avoid it with force: by bringing a maximum force to bear; by employing this force inexorably whenever it is rendered necessary. Rob any government of force and leave it with only its immortal principles, and that government will be at the mercy of the first group that is organized and intent on overthrowing it. No, this is not terror, it is hardly rigor. Perhaps it is only social hygiene, national prophylactics. These individuals are taken out of circulation as the doctor removes an infected person from circulation.
The attempt of individuals to realize their self-powers to the level made possible by contemporary productive forces is a threat to the stability of the dominant social order, which tries to purge itself of the rebellious elements, because "the appropriation of these forces is itself nothing more than the development of the individual capacities corresponding to the material instruments of production. The appropriation of a totality of instruments of production is, for this very reason, the development of a totality of capacities in the individuals themselves." —The Party criticizes the conception that the class struggle's objective includes the oppressed destroying the instrument of oppression, the state—(a conception expressed in formulations such as: "Let it come to an end at last, this great scandal that our posterity will never believe! Disappear at last, revolting distinctions between rich and poor, great and small, masters and servants, governors and governed.")—The real theoretical discovery of Stalinism is that in our age the political authority—the state—has become strong enough to reshape the social order. Stalin took over, without public acknowledgement, the fascist idea of the state as the decisive factor in terminating the class struggle and instituting a new social order controlled from the top. —Stalin defined socialism not in terms of workers' control, but as state ownership of the means of production combined with planning. —The socialist state eliminates the exploitation of labor by taking away from the monopoly capitalists ail the means of production, distribution and communication; all banks and financial institutions; and all large holdings in land and housing. —The power of the state is concentrated in the hands of the top leaders of the Party. Political conditions are concealed from the working people. Neither the trade unions nor other organizations have any part whatever in the administration of production. The working people mechanically vote at the elections for the previously elected Council deputies, and the Minis-
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