'Democracy Without Professionals' is not a phrase that Marx or Engels themselves ever used. I have introduced it here to designate what seems to me the crucial and distinguishing feature in their conception of the communist polity. They expected that leadership functions would not only be elective but would be rotated frequently among the general citizenry in such a way that no professional cadre of leaders would exist. All citizens would participate in public life on a part time or short time basis. The idea of such a participatory democracy, organized without any professional leaders ll, forms the central though not exclusive theme of the present volume.