Revisiting Conjunctural Marxism: Althusser and Poulantzas on the State

Abstract

Althusser and Poulantzas explored the nature of the capitalist state against the backdrop of a joint problematic, which concerned the reproduction of class domination. They established a variant of Marxism that provided the theoretical groundwork for political analysis and strategic reflection, which can be called conjunctural Marxism. Whereas Althusser stressed that the state was a “machine” reproducing class domination, Poulantzas increasingly saw it as a “material condensation” of class relations of forces. Poulantzas’s conception is more convincing due to its anti-instrumentalism and anti-functionalism, but Althusser also offers important insights: The mechanisms diverge on the grounds of which different state apparatuses operate; this suggests that it may be harder or easier for subaltern forces to advance into certain areas of the state. Correspondingly, transformation strategies have to be sensitive toward the violence potentially unleashed by the repressive state apparatus on revolutionary forces and the difficulties attached to breaking through existing chains of command.