Marxism and the State

Abstract

At a time when Marxism is in retreat across the globe following the implosion and disintegration of ‘actually existing socialism’ (see, for instance, Aronson, 1995; McCarney, 1990; cf. Callinicos, 1991; Magnus and Cullenberg, 1995) and in an era in which the inexorable tide of globalisation is seemingly laying waste the nation-state (for an emblematic account see Dunn, 1994), it is tempting to conclude that: (i) Marxist state theory is an anachronism; (ii) contemporary Marxist state theory is an oxymoron; and (iii) a review of developments in the Marxist theory of the state is an exercise in flogging a dead horse. The central aim of this chapter is to suggest otherwise. Indeed the ‘rectifying revolutions’ of 1989 in Eastern Europe provide a long-overdue opportunity for Marxism — and hence the Marxist theory of the state — to liberate itself from what has too often passed in its name (namely the tyranny, autarky and oppression of ‘actually existing socialism’). Reinvigorated in this way, Marxist state theory can provide a powerful critical and analytical tool in the interpretation and interrogation of ‘actually existing capitalism’. In so doing it can contribute to our understanding of processes as seemingly diverse and as far from the gaze of Marxist orthodoxy as the reproduction of patriarchal relations in contemporary societies (see, for instance, Jenson, 1992) and the political economy of global environmental degradation (see, for instance, Hay, 1994a; O’Connor, 1991; Pepper, 1993).