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'''The state''', in Marxist theory, is the instrument of class rule — the organized machinery by which one class maintains its dictatorship over other classes. Far from being a neutral arbiter standing above society (as liberal theory claims), the state under capitalism is described by Marx and Engels as "a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie."
'''The State''' — neither liberal neutral arbiter nor simple bourgeois instrument: the '''form of political unity''' a people takes, which revolutions capture, deepen, and transform rather than abolish by decree.


== Classical Marxist position ==
== From the streams ==
* Marx, in ''The Civil War in France'' (1871), concluded from the experience of the Paris Commune that the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes; the state apparatus must be broken and replaced by a semi-state that begins to wither away.
* Against vulgar withering-away ([https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev/en/kick/infrared/07274b7b-0196-4bcf-8711-fcd1640071af/ Huge updates stream]): "There was a specific interpretation of Marxism — I hate this interpretation — that in the withering away of the state, centralization of authority will disappear and everyone will just willy-nilly do whatever they want. Mao said: I don't actually think the state will ever wither away. We're always going to need these courts..." Governance and statecraft are permanent responsibilities.
* Engels, in ''The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State'' (1884), traced the state's historical emergence to the division of society into classes, arguing it is not eternal but a product of class antagonisms.
* Withering as dynastic deepening ([https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev/en/kick/infrared/01b75999-cac8-4153-b7fe-53ddacd54b59/ FBI AFTER ME! stream]): revolutions that "deepen and enrich the forms and qualitative determinations that emerge out of the revolution rather than liquidate them."
* Lenin systematized this in ''The State and Revolution'' (1917): the state is "a special organization of force," the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie under capitalism and the dictatorship of the proletariat under socialism.
* Institutions hit limits: "civilizations, policies and states reach definite limits, and beyond those limits superstructurally try to conquer those limits, and in vain, and fail" ([https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev/en/youtube/infrared/burj8ku0vao/ Marxism-Leninism in the Age of Multi-Polarity]).


== Infrared and the MAGA Communist movement ==
== The American application ==
Haz Al-Din and Infrared have emphasized the state against both libertarian and "anti-statist" left currents. Key lines of argument:
Country ≠ regime: "I believe there's more to this country than the rotten ruling class and state that has committed so many crimes on its behalf... I'm not giving up on the American people" ([https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev/en/youtube/black-lenin/sevzfpn19fy/ Twitter Space]). Patriotism targets the regime, not the nation ([[Class]], [[New Deal]]).
* The state is not merely an instrument of a class economically defined but the '''political being of the nation''' — the form in which a people's common interest achieves actuality. This draws on Hegel's account of the state in the ''Philosophy of Right''.
* Against "Anglo" right-libertarianism (see [[Anglo Box]]), which treats the state as an external parasite on civil society, Infrared argues that the free market itself presupposes and depends upon state power.
* The American state's constitutional tradition is treated as a potential vessel for proletarian politics — hence the [[American Communist Party]]'s positioning as patriotic socialism rather than anti-American negation.


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Class]]
* [[Revolutionary Dynasty]]
* [[Communism, State and Class]]
* [[Dictatorship of the proletariat]]


== References ==
== References ==
<references/>
<references/>


[https://infrared-transcripts.pages.dev Infrared transcript catalog] — search "state" for primary-source discussion.
[[Category:Theory]][[Category:Marxism]][[Category:American politics]]
 
[[Category:Marxist theory]]

Latest revision as of 11:07, 21 August 2026

The State — neither liberal neutral arbiter nor simple bourgeois instrument: the form of political unity a people takes, which revolutions capture, deepen, and transform rather than abolish by decree.

From the streams

  • Against vulgar withering-away (Huge updates stream): "There was a specific interpretation of Marxism — I hate this interpretation — that in the withering away of the state, centralization of authority will disappear and everyone will just willy-nilly do whatever they want. Mao said: I don't actually think the state will ever wither away. We're always going to need these courts..." Governance and statecraft are permanent responsibilities.
  • Withering as dynastic deepening (FBI AFTER ME! stream): revolutions that "deepen and enrich the forms and qualitative determinations that emerge out of the revolution rather than liquidate them."
  • Institutions hit limits: "civilizations, policies and states reach definite limits, and beyond those limits superstructurally try to conquer those limits, and in vain, and fail" (Marxism-Leninism in the Age of Multi-Polarity).

The American application

Country ≠ regime: "I believe there's more to this country than the rotten ruling class and state that has committed so many crimes on its behalf... I'm not giving up on the American people" (Twitter Space). Patriotism targets the regime, not the nation (Class, New Deal).

See also

References

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