Anna Karenina - Part 8

"I tell you that it's not a case of hundreds or of

ne'er-do-wells, but the best representatives of the people!" said

Sergey Ivanovitch, with as much irritation as if he were

defending the last penny of his fortune. "And what of the

subscriptions? In this case it is a whole people directly

expressing their will."

"That word 'people' is so vague," said Levin. "Parish clerks,

teachers, and one in a thousand of the peasants, maybe, know what

it's all about. The rest of the eighty millions, like Mihalitch,

far from expressing their will, haven't the faintest idea what

there is for them to express their will about. What right have

we to say that this is the people's will?"