Adaptation | Page 4

or two who can possibly repair an I.B.M.
machine, but is there one who can smelt iron, or even locate the ore?
We have others who could design an automated textile factory, but do
any know how to weave a blanket on a hand loom?
"The first generation gets along well with the weapons and equipment
brought with them from Earth. They maintain the old ways. The second
generation follows along but already ammunition for the weapons runs
short, the machinery imported from Earth needs parts. There is no local
economy that can provide such things.
The third generation begins to think of Earth as a legend and the
methods necessary to survive on the new planet conflict with those the
first settlers imported. By the fourth generation, Earth is no longer a
legend but a fable ..."

"But the books, the tapes, the films ..." Roberts injected.
"Go with the guns, the vehicles and the other things brought from Earth.
On a new planet there is no leisure class among the colonists. Each
works hard if the group is to survive. There is no time to write new
books, nor to copy the old, and the second and especially the third
generation are impatient of the time needed to learn to read, time that
should be spent in the fields or at the chase. The youth of an industrial
culture can spend twenty years and more achieving a basic education
before assuming adult responsibilities but no pioneer society can afford
to allow its offspring to so waste its time."
Natt Roberts was being stubborn. "But still, a few would carry the torch
of knowledge."
Plekhanov nodded ponderously, "For a while. But then comes the
reaction against these nonconformists, these crackpots who, by
spending time at books, fail to carry their share of the load. One day
they wake up to find themselves expelled from the group-if not
knocked over the head."
Joe Chessman had been following Plekhanov's argument. He said
dourly, "But finally the group conquers its environment to the point
where a minimum of leisure is available again. Not for everybody, of
course."
Amschd Mayer bounced back into the discussion. "Enter the priest,
enter the war lord. Enter the smart operator who talks or fights himself
into a position where he's free from drudgery."
Joe Chessman said reasonably, "If you don't have the man with leisure,
society stagnates. Somebody has to have time off for thinking, if the
whole group is to advance."
"Admittedly!" Mayer agreed. "I'd be the last to contend that an upper
class is necessarily parasitic."
Plekhanov grumbled, "We're getting away from the subject. In spite of

Mayer's poorly founded opinions, it is quite obvious that only a
collectivized economy is going to enable these Rigel planets to achieve
an industrial culture in as short a period as half a century."
Amschel Mayer reacted as might have been predicted. "Look here,
Plekhanov, we have our own history to go by. Man made his greatest
strides under a freely competitive system."
"Well now ..." Chessman began.
"Prove that!" Plekhanov insisted loudly. "Your so-called free economy
countries such as England, France and the United States began their
industrial revolution in the early part of the nineteenth century. It took
them a hundred years to accomplish what the Soviets did in fifty, in the
next century."
"Just a moment, now," Mayer simmered. "That's fine, but the Soviets
were able to profit by the pioneering the free countries did. The
scientific developments, the industrial techniques, were handed to her
on a platter."
Specialist Martin Gunther, thus far silent, put in his calm opinion.
"Actually, it seems to me the fastest industrialization comes under a
paternal guidance from a more advanced culture. Take Japan. In 1854
she was opened to trade by Commodore Perry. In 1871 she abolished
feudalism and encouraged by her own government and utilizing the
most advanced techniques of a sympathetic West, she began to
industrialize." Gunther smiled wryly, "Soon to the dismay of the very
countries that originally sponsored bringing her into the modern world.
By 1894 she was able to wage a successful war against China and by
1904 she took on and trounced Czarist Russia. In a period of thirtyfive
years she had advanced from feudalism to a world power."
Joe Chessman took his turn. He said obdurately, "Your paternalistic
guidance, given an uncontrolled competitive system, doesn't always
work out. Take India after she gained independence from England. She
tried to industrialize and had the support of the free nations. But what
happened?"

Plekhanov leaned forward to take the ball. "Yes! There's your classic
example. Compare India and China. China had a planned industrial
development. None of this free competition nonsense. In ten years time
they had startled the world with their advances. In twenty years-"
"Yes,"