MARXISM AND THE STATE

MARXISM AND THE STATE


Marxist State theory can provide a powerful critical and analytical in the interpretation and interrogation of actually existing capitalism. Our analysis proceeds in three steps.

In the first section, we consider why it is that Marxist requires a theory of state and how Marxist have conceptualized this focus of their attention. We work of the founding fathers, its formulation by Lenin and Gramsci and the revival of interest in Marxist state theory in the post war period. Finally we consider current development in the Marxist theory of the state.

What is a state?

Marxist may well rely implicitly upon certain conception and understanding of the state but it is some what difficult to identify any analytically precise Marxist definition as an object of inquiry. Marxist conception of state can be crystallized into a four important formulation. Mentioned the four,

1.State is the repressive arm of the bourgeoisie:-

According to Martin Carnay “it is the notion of the (capitalist) as the repressive apparatus of the bourgeoisie that is the distinctly Marxist characteristics of the state” -this some what one dimensional conception of state power is most closely associated with Lenin’s “the State and Revolution”1917 (1968). The state comes in to existence in so far as the institution needed to carry out the common functions of society require for their continued maintenance. The separation of the power of forcible coercion from the general body of society.

2. State as the instrument of the ruling class:-

“ The instrumentalist” position provides perhaps the most prevalent conception of state within Marxist theory. It implies that the state is a n instrument in the hands of the ruling class for enforcing and guaranteeing the stability of the class structure itself.(Paul Sweezy)

The class mediation theory: Various class finds that an institution for mediating their conflicting interests logical state is that institution.

The class domination theory: Class – structure –class are the product of historical development and sees that state as an instrument in the hands of the ruling classes for enforcing and guaranteeing the stability of the class structure itself.

The functioning of the state is understood in terms of the instrumental exercise of power by people in strategic positions, either directly through the manipulation of state policies or indirectly through the exercise of pressure of the state.

3. The state as an ideal collective capitalist:-

The conception of the state as an ideal collective capitalist has its origins in Engel’s frequently cited remark in Anti-Duhring , “that the modern state ,no matter what its form,is essentially a capitalist machine ,the state of the capitalist , the ideal personification of the total national capital”

4. The state as a factor of cohesion within the social formation:-

Though most clearly associated with the work of Poulantzas, the notion of the state as a factor of cohesion can be traced to another incidental and under developed comment by Engels in the “the origin of the family . private property and the state”. The state is defined in terms of its role in maintaining the unity and cohesion of a social formation by concentrating and sanctioning class domination.

Above discussion demonstrates that the state has meant many things to many Marxist. According to Marxism there is no institution which is nearly as important as the state.

State must necessarily intervene in the capitalist economy to secure conditions continue to continuing capitalist accumulation ,there by performing what he calls a general maintenance function . this comprises,

a) The provision of general infrastructure the material the conclusions that are necessary to all business activities but ,that can’t be produced directly by individual private business

b) The capacity to depend militarily a national economic space regulated by the state and to preserve an administrative boundary within which the state is sovereign.

c) The provision of legal system that establishes and enforces the right to possession of private property and,

d) The intervention of the state to regulate and or ameliorate class struggle and the ievitable conflict between capital and labour .such interventions establish what Purgen Habermar terms the “logic of crisis displacement”. Buy this he means that fundamental crisis originating with in the economy (and which previously would have runs the death –knell of capitalism itself )now become the responsibility of the state as the supreme regulator of the economy. Crisis are this displaced from the economy to the state.

For a Marxist theory of state is playing a crucial role in safeguarding the circuit of capital. If we want to understand the operation of the capitalist mode of production we can’t afford to dispense with a theory of the state. If we wish to develop insights in to the ‘normal’ functioning of the capitalist mode of production, and in to the transformation of capitalism in and through moments of crisis , we require a dynamic theory of the capitalist state.



The Genealogy of the State in Marxist Theory:

In 1977,the first systematic and comprehensive review of Marxist theories of the state, Bob Jesop noted that it was a ‘truism’ that Marx and Engels developed no constant, simple or unified theory of the state. By 1982 (in his book The Capital State),this truism had become a common ‘place’

The critique of Hegel’s ‘Doctrine of the State’ contains Marx’s first extended inflections on the state. All though Marx accepts Hegel’s distinction between state and civil society, state power is thoroughly implicated in the protection of property rights, the state actually functions to reproduce “the war of each against all” in civil society. The solution lies in what Marx gave important to terms true democracy. The ‘critique’ contains ample material to show that Marx envisages in1843 :a society based on the abolition of private property and on the disappearance of the state.

Marx’s essay on the ‘Jewish question’ he distinguishes between political emancipation and real human emancipation or true democracy.

Marxist theory of the state is not just to understand the capitalist state but to aid in its destruction. Marx and Engels with this view formulating a systematic theory of state as a class state, state is nothing more than the organization which the bourgeoisie necessarily adopt both for internal and external purposes for the mutual guarantee of this property and interest, a conception hosed in the ‘Communist Manifesto’(1848).

State After Marx Lenin and Gramsci:

Lenin argues that the state is an organ of class rule,an organ for the oppression of one class by another (The State and Revolution-Lenin’s book published in 1917). Since the state is simply the repressive apparatus of the bourgeoisie , it can be used to advance the cause of socialistic transformation. The essential point of revolution is the destruction of the bourgeoisie state as a power separate from the counter posed to the masses, and its replacement by a new type.

Gramsci’s distinctiveness and enduring significance lies in his attempt to incorporate human subjectivity as a dynamic against within Marxist philosophy of history. The central question is that Gramcsi poses is this, what gives the capital the capacity to reproduce and reassert dominance over time despite its inherent contradictions ?. his search for an answer leads him to define a new concept that of hegemony and to extend the Marxist definition of the state to include all these institutions and practices through which the ruling class succeeds in maintaining the essential subordination of those over whom it rate. The key of Gramsci’s theoretical tool box is the concept of hegemony. With this he demonstrated that a dominant class , in order to maintain its supremacy , must succeeded in presenting its own moral,political and cultural values as societal norms or by constructing an ideologically engendered common sense tthe capacity of the ruling classes to persuade subordinate ones. Gramsci’s central contribution is to insist that the power of the capitalist class resides in its ability to influence and shape the perception of the subordinate classes, “before the proletariat could challenge the state it would first have to wage a successful war of positions” – a battle for the hearts and minds within the society. Consciousness itself becomes source of power for the proletariat in laying siege to the state and the means of production.

Structuralism and Instrumentalism:

Instrumentalism tend to view the state as a neutral instrument to be manipulated and steamed the interest of the dominant class or ruling ‘elite’. Its basic thesis is that the modern state serves the interest of the bourgeoisie in a capitalist society because it is dominated by that class. Such a perspective asserts the casual primary of the agency over structure.

An instrumental theory of the state is thus a theory of state in a capitalist society, as opposed to the theory of the capitalist state.

Structuralist positions asserts the casual priority of structures over agents and their intentions. Agents are conceived of as the bearers of objective structures over which they can exercise minimal influence. The capitalist state is viewed as a structural system with form and function determined. Largely , independently of the aspiration , innovations and intentions of political actors or member of the dominant class.

Gramsci’s conception of state:

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) re-emphasized the political dimension of Marxism and the importance of ideological struggle in the process of socialist transformation. Inspired by the Russian Revolution , he began to engage actively in political organization and become prominent in the emergent factory councils movement in Italy. Internal commission’s elected by trade union members are turned in to factor councils. The limited the power of capitalist in the factory and perform functions of the arbitration and discipline. The main task of the council was to change attitude of the mass of the workers from an attitude of dependence to one of leadership.

The prison Note books (prisoner from 1926 until his death in 1937) written between 1929 and 1936)are undoubtedly Gramsci’s major theoretical achievement , Gramsci’s has been called the theoretician of the super structure.

One of the main function of intellectuals then, in additions to ensuring the economic organization and political power of their class, was to preserve the hegemony of their class over society as a whole by means of a justifying ideology of which they were the agents. Gramsci’s specifically acknowledged his debts to Lenin , whose treatment of hegemony he considered to be his greatest , theoretical contribution. Gramsci’s broadened the concept of hegemony to include in it. An analysis of the mean by which ruling class obtained the consent of the subordinate group for their own domination. As long as capitalist hegemony persisted the proletariat remained unaware of the contradicting nature of the capitalist society and of the possibility of transforming it. The ideological hegemony of the capitalists was their ability to represent their own interest as those of society as a whole. Gramsci had the great man of being the first Marxist theorist. Seriously to analysis how the bourgeoisie managed to perpetuate its domination through consent rather than coercion to establish its own hegemony the working class must do more than struggle for its own narrow sectarian interest. It must be able to present itself as the guarantor of the interests of society as a whole control of state power without hegemony in civil society was an secure basis for a socialist program.

Gramsci’s concept of state:

The use of term state is also difficult in Gramsci. Sometimes it is used to cover both civil society and political society although in Marx they are usually sharply distinguished. According to Gramsci’s the general notion of the state includes elements which need to be referred back to the notion of civil society in the sense that one might say that ,

State = political society + civil society (in other words hegemony protected by the armor of coercion ) Gramsci’s says that state equals dictatorship and hegemony and even says that civil society and state are the same. Marx used the expression the civil society to mean the totality of economic relationship. Gramsci used the civil society to refer to the super structure. Usually civil society denoted for Gramsci all the organizational and technical means which diffuse the ideological justification of the ruling class in all domination of culture. Sometimes Gramsci did talk of civil society as fulfilling a medication function between economic and politics, between the economic structure and the state with its legislation and its coercion stands civil society.

Gramsci’s ideas on the intellectuals, hegemony, etc. are closely connected with his experiences over and in the international socialist movement.