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it was embarrassing to complain . . . It was easily said: Make a good job of anything you’re given to do . . .
Exactly what, in your opinion, is the function of the management?” “To manage!”
This was the way demoralization set in, Andrei thought fleetingly. With conversations like this. The lack of understanding produced a lack of belief. And the lack of belief meant death. Very, very dangerous. The Mentor had told him bluntly: the essential thing was to believe in the idea to the very end, unconditionally. To realize that not understanding anything was an absolutely indispensable condition of the Experiment. That was the hardest part, naturally. The majority here had no real ideological toughness, no genuine certainty that the bright future was inevitable. That no matter how
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“But the arithmetic’s quite clear,” he said, “even if the discontents only make up one percent. If there are a million people in a city, that means ten thousand discontents. Even if it’s a tenth of a percent—that’s a thousand discontents. And when that thousand starts clamoring under your windows! And then, note, there’s no such thing as completely contented people. There’s something everyone wants that he doesn’t have, right?
“And anyway, do you know what I think?” he said thoughtfully. “As soon as society has solved some problem that it has, it immediately comes face-to-face with a new problem of the same magnitude . . . no, of even greater magnitude.” Then he livened up. “And that, by the way, gives rise to an interesting little point. Eventually society will come face-to-face with problems of such complexity that it will be beyond mankind’s power to solve them. And then so-called progress will stop.”
This is all garbage—I have the right; I don’t have the right . . . The right to power belongs to whoever holds the power. Or more precisely, if you like, the right to power is held by whoever exercises power. If you know how to bend people to your will, you have the right to power. And if you don’t—sorry!
Yet another major stage was ending and a new one was beginning. And although he couldn’t possibly expect anything good from tomorrow, at least tomorrow was a reality—an exceptionally tangible reality, because it could well be one of a very, very small number of days still remaining.
