The Ideal State 279 



produce were it operating solely under the direction of 

 the minds of the labourers themselves. This can no 

 longer stand as a stable proposition, considering the 

 businesses managed and controlled by the workers 

 alone in Italy, as just explained in the glass-blowing, 

 agricultural, and railway industries under the Syndi- 

 calist regime at present in vogue there. A great deal 

 might be written in regard to this " theory of value," 

 but in relation to the evolution of the ideal state it 

 would be " weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable." No 

 doubt in the earlier stages of such an evolution a system 

 of barter such as has been tried in London among a 

 band of social enthusiasts even under present-day con- 

 ditions would be founded upon a certain value, attach- 

 ing to each product supplied or service rendered by the 

 different members of the community. To take a con- 

 crete example, the doctor for, say, a week's work will 

 receive according to his labour so many barter tickets, 

 which will be exchanged for so much bread, meat, 

 clothing, and housing such as he requires. The pur- 

 veyor of all the necessaries of life simply returns these 

 tickets to the doctor, lawyer, clergyman, or school- 

 master for their services, and each exchanges them as 

 he requires. Thus the cycle works among all members, 

 who are also workers, in the community. As already 

 urged, all are labourers in the ideal state ; we cannot 

 talk of classes, for in the New Utopia there can be no 

 such luxuries, except in so far as men are of outstanding 

 merit intellectually and morally. It is not possible to 

 secure and it is not desirable to attain a dead level of 

 uniformity ; one cannot eliminate the power and 

 domination of the intellect. But as the ideal state will 

 only become possible when man has become purged 

 from much of his dust and dross, it is quite fair to argue 

 that men of great intellectual calibre will use their 

 talents for the benefit of their brethren, and take their 



