Statesman by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

head again. “If any other person said that, I would deem him insane!”
    “Do you remember Big Iron of Jupiter?” I had destroyed the power of the iron cartels by executing all their executives. I do not look back on that episode with particular pride; it was a function of my madness following the death of my closest secretary, Shelia. But it was a useful reference for those who doubted the resolve of the Tyrant.
    He gulped. “I remember.”
    “I will protect you,” I repeated.
    And so Ivan told me what I needed to know: the names of all those Party officials who stood foursquare against progress and efficiency. This confirmed the list I had worked out in the course of our research, and fleshed it out. These men had to go.
    “But I must act at the proper time,” I said. “Do not repeat this dialogue to anyone in the interim.”
    “Comrade Tyrant, you may be certain I will not!” he agreed.
    He also told me of the rampant inefficiency and lack of motivation among the workers. “They could do better work if they wanted to,” he said. “But they have no desire. They sneak as much of the harvest as they can to the black market, and seem to take perverse pride in wasting much of the rest.”
    “Why should this be?” I asked, as if I had no idea.
    “I think it is historical,” he said. “Kraine has always wanted to be independent but has constantly been besieged by foreign powers. It never asked to be part of the Saturnine Union; it had no choice. After System War One, when the Uranians battled the Bolsheviks, Kraine declared its independence. But the foreign armies overwhelmed it, and after three years of war in Krainian territory there was massive famine. Five million Kranian people may have starved. After that came the forced collectivization; thousands of peasants were killed resisting it, and millions lost their holdings. Is it any wonder their sons still smolder under this yoke? They have only enmity toward the power that disenfranchised them.”
    I nodded. “In Jupiter we have free enterprise.”
    “We had it here, once. But today all must work for the benefit of the state—except the nomenklatura, who work only for themselves.”
    “And who therefore are the most dedicated to their cause,” I agreed. “But suppose I restored free enterprise to Kraine?”
    “This is Saturn, not Jupiter!” he repeated. “The entire philosophy differs.”
    "I am not sure the philosophy counts as heavily as the reality. Suppose we called it progressive socialism.
    Could you administer such a program?"
    Ivan spread his hands. “I would try.”
    I went out to a collective farm bubble and talked with the supervisors and the peasants. I could see that they lacked motivation.
    I spent two weeks going from city to city and from farm to farm, meeting the people, talking with them, not so much to gain new information as to establish my presence, so that they would believe me when I addressed them by holo. The Tyrant of Jupiter was here in Kraine, deposed and exiled from his own planet, but determined to improve the harvest here. I knew the word was circulating throughout the region. They knew of, and generally respected, what I had done on Jupiter, and they understood that there had been no war with Saturn in that period. Could the Tyrant do anything for them? So by the time I was ready to make my mass address, they were ready to listen.
    Then I spoke. First I clarified my mission: to double the harvest. “Chairman Khukov has given me complete authority to do what is necessary to accomplish this. I believe that the workers of Kraine are capable of it; all you need is fair administration, and reason to do your best. I will give you fair administration—but first it is necessary to clean out the bad element. I hereby declare the entire political hierarchy of Kraine to be abolished, its members placed in protective custody until they are able to arrange their departure from this republic.”
    The feedback monitors showed a