The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein Page B

less effective
today. Their mates went out on an easy mission. Nothing came back.”
    Wyoh
shivered. “It scares me, too. They won’t be anxious to go inside a
warren again. But, Professor, you say you don’t know how many bodyguards
the Warden keeps. The Organization knows. Twenty-seven. If nine were killed,
only eighteen are left. Perhaps it’s time for a putsch. No?”
    “No,”
I answered.
    “Why
not, Mannie? They’ll never be weaker.”
    “Not
weak enough. Killed nine because they were crackers to walk in where we were.
But if Warden stays home with guards around him—Well, had enough
shoulder-to-shoulder noise last night.” I turned to Prof. “But
still I’m interested in fact—if it is—that Warden now has
only eighteen. You said Wyoh should not go to Hong Kong and I should not go
home. But if he has only eighteen left, I wonder how much danger? Later after
he gets reinforcements.—but now, well, L-City has four main exits plus
many little ones. How many can they guard? What’s to keep Wyoh from
walking to Tube West, getting p-suit, going home?”
    “She
might,” Prof agreed.
    “I
think I must,” Wyoh said. “I can’t stay here forever. If I
have to hide, I can do better in Hong Kong, where I know people.”
    “You
might get away with it, my dear. I doubt it. There were two yellow jackets at
Tube Station West last night; I saw them. They may not be there now.
Let’s assume they are not. You go to the station—disguised perhaps.
You get your p-suit and take a capsule to Beluthihatchie. As you climb out to
take the bus to Endsville, you’re arrested. Communications. No need to
post a yellow jacket at the station; it is enough that someone sees you there.
A phone call does the rest.”
    “But
you assumed that I was disguised.”
    “Your
height cannot be disguised and your pressure suit would be watched. By someone
not suspected of any connection with the Warden. Most probably a
comrade.” Prof dimpled. “The trouble with conspiracies is that they
rot internaily. When the number is as high as four, chances are even that one
is a spy.”
    Wyoh
said glumly, “You make it sound hopeless.”
    “Not
at all, my dear. One chance in a thousand, perhaps.”
    “I
can’t believe it. I don’t believe it! Why, in the years I’ve
been active we have gained members by the hundreds! We have organizations in
all major cities. We have the people with us.”
    Prof
shook head. “Every new member made it that much more likely that you
would be betrayed. Wyoming dear lady, revolutions are not won by enlisting the
masses. Revolution is a science only a few are competent to practice. It
depends on correct organization and, above all, on communications. Then, at the
proper moment in history, they strike. Correctly organized and properly timed
it is a bloodless coup. Done clumsily or prematurely and the result is civil
war, mob violence, purges, terror. I hope you will forgive me if I say that, up
to now, it has been done clumsily.”
    Wyoli
looked baffled. “What do you mean by ‘correct
organization’?”
    “Functional
organization. How does one design an electric motor? Would you attach a bathtub
to it, simply because one was available? Would a bouquet of flowers help? A
heap of rocks? No, you would use just those elements necessary to its purpose
and make it no larger than needed—and you would incorporate safety
factors. Function controls design.
    “So
it is with revolution. Organization must be no larger than
necessary—never recruit anyone merely because he wants to join. Nor seek
to persuade for the pleasure of having another share your views. He’ll
share them when the times comes … or you’ve misjudged the moment in
history. Oh, there will be an educational organization but it must be separate;
agitprop is no part of basic structure.
    “As
to basic structure, a revolution starts as a conspiracy therefore structure is
small, secret, and organized as to minimize damage by