The Marxist theory of the state

Introduction

The state is the central political association in the study of politics, and modern ideas of it are dominated by the liberal and Marxist views. Marxism ties the state to the class structure of society. The question asks for the debates within and about that theory.

The Marxist theory of the state

Core idea. Among the main views of the state, Marxism holds the class view; it rejects the liberal idea of the state and calls it an instrument of class. Primitive communism had no state, because it had no surplus, no private property and no classes. When better technology produced a surplus, private ownership and class division followed, and the owners created the state to suppress the dissent of those without property. Masters, feudal lords and capitalists were each a minority that held down a majority through its coercive organs. NCERT records the starting point: for Marx, private ownership of key resources such as land, forests and oil also gives the owners the social and political power to influence state policies and laws, which can threaten democratic government. The polity belongs to the superstructure, shaped by the mode of production.

Future of the state. After the workers' revolution the old apparatus passes into their hands as the dictatorship of the proletariat, or socialist state, and its army, police, prisons and courts are turned against the bourgeoisie, which may try a counter-revolution. In communism no class remains to be held down, so the state is not smashed but grows redundant and withers away.

Debates within and about the theory. (1) Who decides what the state does? Elitist theories look first at the ruling minority that staffs the state; Marxist theories look instead at the social context and economic framework around it, and structural theories at the limits these set on government, though IGNOU says the two readings need not exclude each other. Miliband's account of the state's parts (government, bureaucracy, military and police, judiciary, local government, assemblies) shows that it is no single block, and Marx himself said of the Bonapartist state that its power did not hang in mid-air. (2) How far does the base decide? Critics reject economic determinism as a one-way account, since the superstructure shapes the base too; later Marxists such as Gramsci accepted that the superstructure plays an important role. (3) Reform or revolution? Evolutionary socialists use the withering-away idea to argue for peaceful change. Their critics reply that it applies only to the socialist state, and that the capitalist state must be broken by revolution. (4) Dictatorship or democracy? Marx argued that the proletarian state would be the first truly democratic one if democracy means majority rule, since power passes to the majority for the first time. Experience points the other way: under Stalin and Mao the state became all-powerful, and in Soviet times power was concentrated in a few hands. (5) Would socialism end officialdom? Marx expected society to govern itself without a special machinery of repression, while Weber expected socialism to need more officials to run a collective economy. (6) Where can such a state arise? Mensheviks held to the sequence of stages, while the Bolsheviks took power in a feudal society, and Trotsky answered the difficulty with permanent revolution.

Criticisms. (a) Its two-class picture is too simple, and the middle class has grown instead of vanishing. (b) Capitalism has adapted and survived, and the workers' condition has not worsened as predicted. (c) The state has not withered away, and the socialist state has been overthrown, discredited or forced to change wherever it was tried. (d) Radical feminists also see the state as an instrument of power, but they trace women's unequal status to the unequal division of labour in the family, a ground other than class.

The main debates compared

Assessment in the light of experience

The strongest point in the theory is NCERT's own recognition that ownership of key economic resources gives social and political power that can influence the laws and threaten democratic government. Its weakest points are empirical. Capitalist democracies expanded social welfare after the war, capitalism has adapted instead of collapsing, and the state grew stronger, not weaker, where socialism was tried.

Conclusion

The Marxist theory of the state is valuable for linking economic power to political power, and IGNOU holds that it stays relevant as a method of social analysis. It is weaker in its economic determinism and in its prediction that the state will wither away. Debate among later Marxists shows a body of thought still being developed.