“What’s a fiction?” I say, failing to understand and trying to take the joint back from him.
“It’s all a fiction,” says Chapai after thinking a moment. “The proletariat is self-sufficient. Therefore the only ideal and ideologically sound principle is that of external working cells, the so-called EWC. The external working cell on its own is also self-sufficient.”
“Listen,” I say, “your Marx is some kind of Buddha—”
“Not to speak of Engels,” inserts Vasia from sleep.
“This is how it works. Each EWC is formed according to the anthill principle. The basis of the formation is each separate enterprise, whether a plant, a factory, or some other entity. And around this entity the EWC gathers like ants around an anthill.”
“Yeah?” I ask. “And who plays the role of the queen ant?”
“The party co
