In a message dated 01/19/2004 7:34:10 PM Eastern Standard Time, mklahn at mac.com writes: > It would seem to me that there would be > some way to organize a large amount of labor like this without > resorting to armed revolution if you could convince some people with > money that it would be to the mutual benefit of everyone involved. As > Zerika points out (as does Sethra in _Orca_), the Empire is still an > economic structure primarily governed by trade. If you have a huge > amount of available labor, wouldn't there be something that people more > intelligent than me (and I'm not above saying that Kelly is most likely > more intelligent than I am) could do with that resource that doesn't > involve revolt? > > -- > Matthew S. Klahn > Software Architect, CodeTek Studios, Inc. > http://www.codetek.com > Trade of what? The Empire is still an agrarian society, and being an agrarian society any communist uprising is doomed to failure by Marx and Engles own definition of communism. Kelly is dead in the water before he even unfurls his sails. The workers cannot seize the means of production as there really isn't any means of production by industrialized standards. Abolish private property? There isn't really any private property. The nobles hold title to lands through the authority of grants and appointments by the Empress. Those lands can and have been taken away. The nobles don't even own the means of production in a monarchy, the monarch does. The nobles merely over see them for the crown. Trying to convince 'someone in power', meaning in this case Zerika only (as she owns the means of production), that it is mutually beneficial to back the revolution doesn't make any sense as it is clearly not in her best interest. What would she cede to the workers? Some nobles land grant? What would Morrolan do if Zerika tried to take away his fiefdom and turn it over to the peasants? Then you would see a revolution of the bloodiest kind. John D. Barbato, OD