The state bureaucracy has occupied a central place in discussion of the socialist policies in Tanzania since 1967 when they were announced. Several issues, contradictory in conception, have been raised about it by several writers. In almost all of thesewritings however, no distinction has been drawn between the various constituents of the bureaucracy, especially between the civil service and the bureaucracy centred in the parastatal organisations and, to a lesser extent, the party bureaucracy. This paper dissects the state bureaucracy concentrating on the civil service. The structural changes as well as the duties and responsabilities thrust on the civil service in the wake of the Arusha Declaration are first described, followed by analyses of the change in civil service size, income, effectiveness and efficiency.