A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy, usually within an institution of the government.
The term "bureaucrat" today has largely negative connotations, so those who are the members of a governmental bureaucracy usually prefer terms such as civil servant or public servant to describe their jobs.
Bureaucrat jobs are usually "desk jobs," often of a clerical or organizational nature.
is personally free and appointed to his position on the basis of conduct
he exercises the authority delegated to him in accordance with impersonal rules, and his loyalty is enlisted on behalf of the faithful execution of his official duties
his appointment and job placement are dependent upon his technical qualifications
his administrative work is a full-time occupation
his work is rewarded by a regular salary and prospects of advancement in a lifetime career
An official must exercise his judgment and his skills, but his duty is to place these at the service of a higher authority; ultimately he is responsible only for the impartial execution of assigned tasks and must sacrifice his personal judgment if it runs counter to his official duties.
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society.
However, Trotsky doubted that a state of pure bureaucratic collectivism would ever be reached; he believed that, in the absence of a proletarian revolution to return the Soviet Union to socialism, a comprehensive counter-revolution would return the nation to capitalism instead.
The theory of bureaucratic collectivism was maintained by socialists such as Hal Draper, and is now held by sections of Solidarity in the USA and Workers Liberty in the United Kingdom and Australia.
This is the subject of Marxist theories of bureaucratic collectivism.
Central to the Marxian concept of socialism is the idea of workers' self-management, which assumes the internalisation of a morality and self-discipline among people that would make bureaucratic supervision and control redundant, together with a drastic reorganisation of the division of labour in society.
Because bureaucrats have more information than elected officials about what they are doing and what they should be doing, bureaucrats might have the ability to implement policies or regulations that go against the public interest.
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