Withering away of the state

Origin of the phrase

The phrase stems from Friedrich Engels, who wrote in part 3, chapter 2 of Anti-Dühring (1878):

A related quote from Engels comes from Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884):

Interpretations

Some trace the concept of the state withering away back to the early Karl Marx of the 1840s and to the socialist anarchist theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. |author-link1 = Branko Horvat |editor-last1 = Horvat |editor-first1 = Branko |editor-link1 = Branko Horvat |editor-last2 = Marković |editor-first2 = Mihailo |editor-link2 = Mihailo Marković |editor-last3 = Supek |editor-first3 = Rudi |editor-link3 = Rudi Supek |editor-last4 = Kramer |editor-first4 = Helen |publication-place = White Plains, New York |access-date = 7 September 2024 However, Marx's advocacy for the dictatorship of the proletariat and Proudhon's antagonism towards the state |orig-date = 1969 |publication-place = Princeton, New Jersey |access-date = 7 September 2024 proved uncomfortable bedfellows, |editor-last1 = Jamil |editor-first1 = Cayce |translator-last1 = Murdock |translator-first1 = Shaun |translator-last2 = Berthier |translator-first2 = René |translator-last3 = Cohn |translator-first3 = Jesse S. |orig-date = 1967 |access-date = 7 September 2024 and the two thinkers parted company . Proudhon's ideas on withering influenced the Paris Commune of 1871. |author-link1 = Robert Tombs |orig-date = 1999 |publication-place = Abingdon |access-date = 7 September 2024 |author-link1 = Robert Tombs |orig-date = 1999 |publication-place = Abingdon |access-date = 7 September 2024

Although Engels first introduced the terminology of "the withering away of the state", he attributed the underlying concept to Marx, and other Marxist theorists—including Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)—would later expand on it. According to this concept of the withering away of the state, eventually a communist society will no longer require coercion to induce individuals to behave in a way that benefits the entire society. Such a society would occur after a temporary period of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The idea of the communist society proceeds from the concept of the transformation of the state in a previous stage of society called socialism. Engels posits that—similar to the arguments made by Henri de Saint-Simon before him—in a socialist society public organization would become primarily concerned with technical issues such as the optimal allocation of resources and determination of production as opposed to drafting and enforcing laws and thus the traditional state functions would gradually become irrelevant and unnecessary for the functioning of society. Engels argued that the state transforms itself from a "government of people" to an "administration of things" and thus would not be a state in the traditional sense of the term.

This scenario depended on Marx's view of coercive power as a tool of those who own the means of production, i.e. certain social classes (the bourgeoisie) and the capitalist state. In a communist society, the social classes would disappear and the means of production would have no single owner, hence such a stateless society will no longer require law and a stateless communist society will develop.

The concept of the withering away of the state differentiates traditional Marxism from state socialism (which accepts the retention of the institution of the state) and anti-statist anarchism (which demands the immediate abolition of the state with no perceived need for any "temporary" post-revolutionary institution of the state).

In the Soviet Marxism of the Soviet Union, Lenin supported the idea of the withering away of the state as seen in his The State and Revolution (1917). Joseph Stalin's government mentioned it occasionally, but did not believe the world was yet in the advanced stage of development where the state could wither away. He believed that at least in the short term the state had to have enough power to strike back against those elements seeking to derail the ultimate victory of communism. The Stalin-era Soviet Union marginalized the notion of the withering of the state, as the state became more powerful and entrenched.

References

References

1. "Stalinism".
2. (2007). "Withering away of the state". [[Palgrave Macmillan]].
3. (2001). "Remaking the Chinese State: Strategies, Society, and Security". Taylor & Francis Group.
4. (2011). "Withering Away of the State". [[CQ Press]].