Great organizers are as rare as great artists. For the large business they are all the more indispensable, the more extensive the undertaking, and the more various and intricate its ramifications into the total economic processes of society. This fact has long been recognized by capital, and consequently the separate businesses seek to attract qualified organizers by offering them enormous advantages and great freedom of movement.
The State bureaucracy requires eminent organizers not less than the capitalist, but rather more so. ....
Now a socialized undertaking will be obliged to embark upon this competition with capital. It will not be able to thrive without competent organizers, and must offer them at least the same advantages as the capitalist business.
For this reason it is impossible to give effect to the demand put forward by Marx, and adopted by Lenin, that nobody employed in the State service should receive a salary in excess of workers’ wages. This principle may be in harmony with Labour sensibilities and our socialist conceptions, but it is incompatible with economic requirements, which always enforce themselves. We shall do well to recognize this fact from the start and allow it to guide our actions, instead of becoming wise after bitter experience.