City of Endless Night

by Milo Hastings

  CHAPTER XI

  IN WHICH THE TALKING DELEGATE IS ANSWERED BY THEROYAL VOICE AND I LEARN THAT LABOUR KNOWS NOT GOD

  ~1~

  I had delayed in speaking to Grauble of our revolutionary plans, becauseI wished first to arrange a meeting with Zimmern and Hellar and securethe weight of their calmer minds in initiating Grauble into our plans ofsending a message to the World State authorities. I was prevented fromdoing this immediately by difficulties in the Protium Works. Meanwhileunbeknown to me the sailing date of Grauble's vessel was advanced, andhe departed to the Arctic.

  Although my position as Director of the Protium Works had been more ofan honour than an assignment of active duties, I made it my business toassume the maximum rather than the minimum of the functions of theoffice as I wished to learn more of the labour situation in Berlin, ofwhich as yet I had no comprehensive understanding.

  In a general way I understood that German labour differed not only inbeing eugenically created as a distinct breed, but that the labour groupwas also a very distinct caste economically and politically. Thelabourer, being denied access to the Level of Free Women, had no needfor money or bank credit in any form. This seemed to me to reduce him toa condition of pure slavery--since he received no pay for his servicesother than the bare maintenance supplied by the state.

  Because of this evidence of economic inferiority, I had at firstsupposed that labour was in every way an inferior caste. But in this Ihad been gravely mistaken, nor had I been able fully to comprehend myerror until this brewing labour trouble revealed in concrete form thepolitical superiority of labour. In my failure to comprehend the truestate of affairs I had been a little stupid, for the political basis ofGerman society is revealed to the seeing eye in the Hohenzollern eagleemblazoned on the red flag, the emblem of the rule of labour.

  Historically I believe this belies the origin of the red flag for it wasfirst used as the emblem of democratic socialism, a Nineteenth Centurytheory of a social order in which all social and economic classes wereto be blended into a true democracy differing somewhat in its economicorganization, but essentially the same politically as the true democracywhich we have achieved in the World State. But with the Bolshevistregime in Russia after the First World War, the red flag wasappropriated as the emblem of the political supremacy and rule of theproletariat or labour class.

  I make these references to bygone history because they throw light onthe peculiar status of the German Labour Caste, which is possessed ofpolitical superiority combined with social and economic inferiority. Itwas the Bolshevist brand of socialism that finally overran Germany inthe era of loose and ineffective rule of the world by the League ofNations. Though I make no pretence of being an accurate authority onhistory, the League of Nations, if I remember rightly, was humanity'sfirst timid conception of the World State. Rather weakly born, it waspromptly emasculated by the rise in America of a political party foundedon the ideas of a great national hero who had just died. Theobstructionist policy of this party was inherent in its origin, for itwas inspired and held together by the ideas of a dead man, whosefollowers could only repeat as their test of faith a phrase that hascome down to us as an idiom--"What would He do?"

  "He" being dead could do nothing, neither could he change his mind, buthaving left an indelible record of his ideas by the strenuous verbiageof his virile and inspiring rhetoric, there was no room for doubt. As inall political and religious faiths founded on the ideas of dead heroes,this made for solidarity and power and quite prevented any adaptation ofthe form of government to the needs of the world that had arisen sincehis demise.

  I have digressed here from my theme of the political status of theGerman labour caste, but it is fascinating to trace things to theirorigin to find the links of the chain of cause and effect. So, if I haveread my history aright, the emasculation of the League of Nations by theAmerican obstructionists caused, or at least permitted the rise, anddominance of the Bolshevists in Twentieth-Century Germany. Had theGermans been democrats at heart the pendulum would have swung back as itdid with other peoples, and been stayed at the point of equilibriumwhich we recognized as the stable mean of democracy.

  But in the old days before the modern intermingling of the races itseems that there were certain tastes that had become instinctive inracial groups. Thus, just as the German stomach craved the rich flavourof sausage, so the German mind craved the dazzling show of Royalflummery. Had it not been for this the First World War could have neverbeen, for the socialists of that time were bitterly opposed to war andGermany was the world's greatest stronghold of socialism, yet when theirbeloved imperial poser, William the Great, called for war the Germansocialists, with the exception of a few whom they afterwards murdered,went forth to war almost without protest.

  When I first began to hear of the political rights of Labour, I went tomy friend Hellar and asked for an explanation.

  "Is not the chain of authority absolute," I asked, "up through theindustrial organization direct to the Emperor and so to God himself?"

  "But," said Hellar, "the workers do not believe in God!"

  "What," I stammered, "workers not believe in God! It is impossible. Havenot the workers simple trusting minds?"

  "Certainly," said Hellar, "it is the natural mind of man! Scepticism,which is the basis of scientific reasoning, is an artificial thing,first created in the world under the competitive economic order when itbecame essential to self-preservation in a world of trade based ondeceit. In our new order we have had difficulty in maintaining enough ofit for scientific purposes even in the intellectual classes. There is noscepticism among the labourers now, I assure you. They believe as easilyas they breathe."

  "Then how," I demanded in amazement, "does it come that they do notbelieve in God?"

  "Because," said Hellar, "they have never heard of God.

  "The labourer does not know of God because we have restored God sincethe perfection of our caste system, and hence it was easy to promulgatethe idea among the intellectuals and not among the workers. It wasnecessary to restore God for the intellectuals in order to give themgreater respect for the power of the Royal House, but the labourers needno God because they believe themselves to be the source from which theRoyal House derives its right to rule. They believe the Emperor to betheir own servant ruling by their permission."

  "The Emperor a servant to labour!" I exclaimed; "this is absurd."

  "Certainly," said Hellar; "why should it be otherwise? We are an absurdpeople, because we have always laughed at the wrong things. Still thisprinciple is very old and has not always been confined to the Germans.After the revolutions in the Twentieth Century the American plutocratsemployed poverty-stricken European nobility for servants and exaltedthem to high stations and obeyed them explicitly in all social matterswith which their service was concerned.

  "The labourers restored William III because they wished to have anexalted servant. He led them to war and became a hero. He reorganizedthe state and became their political servant, also their emperor andtheir tyrant. It is not an impossible relation, for it is not unlike therelation between the mother and the child or between a man and hismistress. And yet it is different, more formal, with functionsbetter defined.

  "The Emperor is the administrative head of the government and weintellectuals are merely his hirelings. We are merely the feathers ofthe Royal eagle, our colour is black, we have no part in the red bloodof human brotherhood, we are outcasts from the socialistic labourworld--for we receive money compensation to which labourers would notstoop. But labour owns the state. This roof of Berlin over our heads andall that is therein contained, is the property of the workers whoproduced it."

  I shook my head in mute admission of my lack of comprehension.

  "And who," asked Hellar, "did you think owned Berlin?"

  I confessed that I had never thought of that.

  "Few of our intellectual class have ever thought of that," repliedHellar, "unless they are well read in political history. But at the timeof the Hoh
enzollern restoration labour owned all property in truecommunal ownership. They did not release it to the Royal House, butmerely turned over the administration of the property to the Emperor asan agent."

  These belated explanations of the fundamental ideas of German societyquite confused and confounded me, though Hellar seemed in no wisesurprised at my ignorance, since as a chemist I had originally beensupposed to know only of atoms and valences and such like matters.Seeking a way out of these contradictions I asked: "How is it then thatlabour is so powerless, since you say that it owns the state, and eventhe Emperor rules by its permission?"

  "Napoleon--have you ever heard of him?"

  "Yes," I admitted--and then recalling my role as a German chemist Ihastened to add--"Napoleon was a directing chemist who achieved a planfor increasing the food supply in his day by establishing the sugar beetindustry."

  "Is that so?" exclaimed Hellar. "I didn't know that. I thought he wasonly an Emperor--anyway, Napoleon said that if you tell men they areequal you can do as you please with them. So when William III waselected to the throne by labour, he insisted that they retain the powerand re-elect him every five years. He was very popular because heinvented the armoured city--our new Berlin--some day I will tell you ofthat--and so of course he was re-elected, and his son after him. Thoughmost of the intellectuals do not know that it exists the ceremony ofelection is a great occasion on the labour levels. The Emperor speaksall day through the horns and on the picture screens. The workers thinkhe is actually speaking, though of course it is a collection of oldfilms and records of the Royal Voice. When they have seen and heard thespeeches, the labourers vote, and then go back to their work and arevery happy."

  "But suppose they should sometime fail to re-elect him?"

  "No danger," said Hellar; "there is only one name on the ballot and theballots are dumped into the paper mill without inspection."

  "Most extraordinary," I exclaimed.

  "Most ordinary," contradicted Hellar; "it is not even an exclusivelyGerman institution; we have merely perfected it. Voting everywhere is avery useful device in organized government. In the cruder form used indemocracies there were two or more candidates. It usually made littledifference which was elected; but the system was imperfect because thevoters who voted for the candidate which lost were not pleased. Thenthere was the trouble of counting the ballots. We avoid all this."

  "It is all very interesting," I said, "but who is the real authority?"

  "Ah," said Hellar, "this matter of authority is one of our most subtleconceptions. The weakness of ancient governments was in the fact thatthe line of authority was broken. It came somewhere to an end. But nowauthority flows up from labour to the Emperor and then descends again tolabour through the administrative line of which we are one link. It isan unbroken circuit."

  But I was still unsatisfied, for it annoyed me not to be able tounderstand the system of German politics, as I had always prided myselfthat, for a scientist, I understood politics remarkably well.

  ~2~

  I had gone to Hellar for enlightenment because I was gravely alarmedover the rumours of a strike among the labourers in the Protium Works. Ihad read in the outside world of the murder and destruction of theseformer civil wars of industry. With a working population so cruelly heldto the treadmill of industrial bondage the idea of a strike conjured upin my fancy the beginning of a bloody revolution. With so vast apopulation so utterly dependent upon the orderly processes of industrythe possible terrors of an industrial revolution were horrible beyondimagining; and for the moment all thoughts of escape, or of my own plansfor negotiating the surrender of Berlin to the World State, were sweptaside by the stern responsibilities that devolved upon me as theDirector of Works wherein a terrible strike seemed brewing.

  The first rumour of the strike of the labourers in the Protium Works hadcome to me from the Listening-in-Service. Since Berlin was toocomplicated and congested a spot for wireless communication to bepractical, the electrical conduct of sound was by antiquated means ofmetal wires. The workers' Free Speech Halls were all provided withreceiving horns by which they made their appeals to His Majesty, ofwhich I shall speak presently. These instruments were provided withcut-offs in the halls. They had been so designed by the electricalengineers, who were of the intellectual caste, that not even the workerswho installed and repaired them knew that the cut-offs were a blind andthat the Listening-in-Service heard every word that was said at theirsecret meetings, when all but workers were, by law and custom, excludedfrom the halls.

  And so the report came to me that the workers were threatening strike.Their grievance came about in this fashion. My new process had reducedthe number of men needed in the works. This would require that some ofthe men be transferred to other industries. But the transfer was a slowprocess, as all the workers would have to be examined anatomically andtheir psychic reflexes tested by the labour assignment experts and thoseselected re-trained for other labour. That work was proceedingslowly, for there was a shortage of experts because some similar need oftransfers existed in one of the metal industries. Moreover, my labourpsychologist considered it dangerous to transfer too many men, as theywere creatures of habit, and he advised that we ought merely to cease totake on new workers, but wait for old age and death to reduce the numberof our men, meanwhile retaining the use of the old extraction process inpart of the works.

  "Impossible," I replied, "unless you would have your rations cut and thecity put on a starvation diet. Do you not know that the reserve store ofprotium that was once enough to last eight years is now reduced to lessthan as many months' supply?"

  "That is none of my affair," said the labour psychologist; "thesechemical matters I do not comprehend. But I advise against thesetransfers, for our workers are already in a furor about the change ofoperations in the work."

  "But," I protested, "the new operations are easier than the old; besideswe can cut down the speed of operations, which ought to help you takecare of these surplus men."

  "Pardon, Herr Chief," returned the elderly labour psychologist, "you area great chemist, a very great chemist, for your invention has upset thelabour operation more than has anything that ever happened in my longexperience, but I fear you do not realize how necessary it is to go slowin these matters. You ask men who have always opened a faucet from leftto right to now open one that moves in a vertical plane. Here, I willshow you; move your arm so; do you not see that it takesdifferent muscles?"

  "Yes, of course, but what of it? The solution flows faster and theoperation is easier."

  "It is easy for you to say that; for you or me it would make nodifference since our muscles have all been developed indiscriminately."

  "But what are your labour gymnasiums for, if not to develop allmuscles?"

  "Now do not misunderstand me. I serve as an interpreter between theminds of the workers and your mind as Director of the Works. As for themuscles developed in the gymnasium, those were developed for sport andnot for labour. But that is not the worst of it; you have designed thenew benches so low that the mixers must stoop at their work. It isvery painful."

  "Good God," I cried, "what became of the stools? The mixers are to sitdown--I ordered two thousand stools."

  "That I know, Herr Chief, but the equipment expert consulted me aboutthe matter and I countermanded the order. It would never do. I did notconsult you, it is true, but that was merely a kindness. I did not wishto expose your lack of knowledge, if I may call it such."

  "Call it what you please," I snapped, for at the time I thought mylabour psychologist was a fool, "but get those stools, immediately."

  "But it would never do."

  "Why not?"

  "Because these men have always stood at their work."

  "But why can they not sit down now?"

  "Because they never have sat down."

  "Do they not sit down to eat?"

  "Yes, but not to work. It is very different. You do not understand thepsychic immobility of labour. Habits grow stronger as t
he mentality issimplified. I have heard that there are animals in the zoological gardenthat still perform useless operations that their remote ancestorsrequired in their jungle life."

  "Then do you infer that these men who must stand at their work inheritedthe idea from their ancestors?"

  "That is a matter of eugenics. I do not know, but I do know that we arepreparing for trouble with these changes. Still I hope to work it outwithout serious difficulty, if you do not insist on these transfers.When workmen have already been forced to change their habitual method ofwork and then see their fellows being removed to other and stillstranger work it breeds dangerous unrest."

  "One thing is certain," I replied; "we cannot delay the installation ofthe new method; as fast as the equipment is ready the new operation mustreplace the old."

  "But the effect of that policy will be that there will not be enoughwork, and besides the work is, as you say, lighter and that will resultin the cutting down of the food rations."

  "But I have already arranged that," I said triumphantly; "the RationingBureau have adjusted the calorie standards so that the men will get asmuch food as they have been used to."

  "What! you have done that?" exclaimed the labour psychologist; "thenthere will be trouble. That will destroy the balance of the food supplyand the expenditure of muscular energy and the men will get fat. Thenthe other men will accuse them of stealing food and we shall havebloodshed."

  "A moment ago," I smiled, "you told me I did not know your business. NowI will tell you that you do not know mine. We ordered special foodbulked up in volume; the scheme is working nicely; you need not worryabout that. As for the other matter, this surplus of men, it seems to methat the only thing is to cut down the working hours temporarily untilthe transfers can be made."

  The psychologist shook his head. "It is dangerous," he said, "and veryunusual. I advise instead that you have the operation engineers go overthe processes and involve the operations, both to make them more nearlyresemble the old ones, and to add to the time and energy consumption ofthe tasks."

  "No," I said emphatically, "I invented a more economical process forthis industry and I do not propose to see my invention prostituted inthis fashion. I appreciate your advice, but if we cannot transfer theworkers any faster, then the labour hours must be cut. I will issue theorder tomorrow. This is my final decision."

  I was in authority and that settled the matter. The psychologist wasvery decent about it and helped me fix up a speech and that next nightthe workers were ordered to assemble in their halls and I made my speechinto a transmitting horn. I told them that they had been especiallyhonoured by their Emperor, who, appreciating their valuable service, hadgranted them a part-time vacation and that until further notice theirsix-hour shifts were to be cut to four. I further told them that theirrations would not be reduced and advised them to take enough extraexercise in the gymnasium to offset their shorter hours so they wouldnot get fat and be the envy of their fellows.

  ~3~

  For a time the workers seemed greatly pleased with their shorter hours.And then, from the Listening-in-Service, came the rumour of the strike.The first report of the strike gave me no clue to the grievance and Iasked for fuller reports. When these came the next day I was shockedbeyond belief. If I had anticipated anything in that interval of terrorit was that my workers were to strike because their communications hadbeen shut off or that they were to strike in sympathy for their fellowsand demand that all hours be shortened like their own. But the grievancewas not that. My men were to go on strike for the simple reason thattheir hours had been shortened!

  The catastrophe once started came with a rush, for when I reached theoffice the next day the psychologist was awaiting me and told me thatthe strike was on. I rushed out immediately and went down to the works.The psychologist followed me. As I entered the great industriallaboratories I saw all the men at their usual places and going throughtheir usual operations. I turned to my companion who was just coming up,and said: "What do you mean; I thought you told me the strike was on,that the men had already walked out?"

  "What do you mean by 'walked out'?" he returned, as puzzled as I.

  "Walked out of the works," I explained; "away from their duties, quitwork. Struck!"

  "But they have struck. Perhaps you have never seen a strike before, butdo you not see the strike badges?"

  And then I looked and saw that every workman wore a tiny red flag, andthe flag bore no imperial eagle.

  "It means," I gasped, "that they have renounced the rule of the RoyalHouse. This is not a strike, this is rebellion, treason!"

  "It is the custom," said the labour psychologist, "and as for rebellionand treason that you speak of I hardly think you ought to call it thatfor rebellion and treason are forbidden."

  "Then just what does it mean?"

  "It means that this particular group of workers have temporarilywithdrawn their allegiance to the Royal House, and they have, in theirown minds, restored the old socialist regime, until they can makepetition to the Emperor and he passes on their grievance. They will dothat in their halls tonight. We, of course, will be connected up andlisten in."

  "Then they are not really on strike?"

  "Certainly they are on strike. All strikes are conducted so."

  "Then why do they not quit work?"

  "But why should they quit work? They are striking because their hoursare already too short--pardon, Herr Chief, but I warned you!

  "I think I know what you mean," he added after a pause; "you haveprobably read some fiction of old times when the workers went on strikeby quitting work."

  "Yes, exactly. I suppose that is where I did get my ideas; and that isnow forbidden--by the Emperor?"

  "Not by the Emperor, for you see these men wear the flags without theeagle. They at present do not acknowledge his authority."

  "Then all this strike is a matter of red badges without eagles andeverything else will go on as usual?"

  "By no means. These men are striking against the descending authorityfrom the Royal House. They not only refuse to wear the eagle until theirgrievance is adjusted but they will refuse to accept further education,for that is a thing that descends from above. If you will go now to thepicture halls, where the other shift should be, you will find the hallsall empty. The men refuse to go to the moving pictures."

  That night we "listened in." A bull-throated fellow, whom I learned wasthe Talking Delegate, addressed the Emperor, and much to my surprise Ithought I heard the Emperor's own voice in reply, stating that he wasready to hear their grievance.

  Then the bull voice of the Talking Delegate gave the reason for thestrike: "The Director of the Works, speaking for your Majesty, hasgranted us a part time vacation, and shortened our hours from six tofour. We thank you for this honour but we have decided we do not likeit. We do not know what to do during those extra two hours. We had ourgames and amusements but we had our regular hours for them. If we playlonger we become tired of play. If we sleep longer we cannot sleep aswell. Moreover we are losing our appetite and some of us are afraid toeat all our portions for fear we will become fat. So we have decidedthat we do not like a four-hour day and we have therefore taken theeagles off our flags and will refuse to replace them or to go to theeducational pictures until our hours are restored to the six-hour daythat we have always had."

  And now the Emperor's voice replied that he would take the matter underconsideration and report his decision in three days and, that meanwhilehe knew he could trust them to conduct themselves as good socialists whowere on strike, and hence needed no king.

  The next day the psychologist brought a representative of theInformation Staff to my office and together we wrote the reply that theEmperor was to make. It would be necessary to concede them the full sixhours and introduce the system of complicating the labour operations tomake more work. Much chagrined, I gave in, and called in the motionstudy engineers and set them to the task. Meanwhile the Royal Voice wassent for and coached in the Emperor's reply to the stri
king workmen, anda picture film of the Emperor, timed to fit the length of the speech,was ordered from stock.

  The Royal Voice was an actor by birth who had been trained to imitateHis Majesty's speech. This man, who specialized in the Emperor'sspeeches to the workers, prided himself that he was the best Royal Voicein Berlin and I complimented him by telling him that I had been deceivedby him the evening before. But considering that the workers, neverhaving heard the Emperor's real voice, would have no standard ofcomparison, I have never been able to see the necessity of the accuracyof his imitation, unless it was on the ground of art for art's sake.