KARL MARX ON STATE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Political Science
Submitted By: Shubham Das

UID: SM0110665

1st Year 2nd Semester

Faculty-in-charge: Dr. Mayengbam Nandakishwor Singh

National Law University, Assam

Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Literature Review
1.2 Scope and Objectives
1.3 Research Questions
1.4 Research Methodology
2. The Idea of State
2.1 Elements of State
2.1.1 Population
2.1.2 Territory
2.1.3 Government
2.1.4 Sovereignty
3. Karl Marx on State
3.1 Origin of State
3.2 Class View of State
3.3 Evolution of State
4. Critical Analysis of Karl Marx on the Idea of State
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
 1. Introduction

The project attempts to critically assess the numerous features of state according to Karl Marx,
one of the most significant figures in Social Science, particularly Political Science, in this study.
It covers the basic principles and features of the Marxist perspective on the genesis and nature of
the state, as well as the notion and characteristics of the State.

Initially, the project would seek to account for the general meaning of state. One of the most basic
definitions of condition is - A state is a legally binding political organisation with a centralised
government that has a monopoly on the authorised use of force within a certain geographical
region. There are four major components of a state: a) people, b) territory, c) governance, and d)
sovereignty. These aspects will be further investigated later in this project.

Marx became interested in political theory after moving to Dresden in 1842.1 During his time
there, he began to examine the causes that led to the French and English political revolutions, and
here is where he developed an interest in political philosophy. Marx's political works do not create
a cohesive theory of the political state; nonetheless, they do represent a collection of essential
concepts that frame the discussion regarding the development of the state and the nature of state
political activity. These claims will be investigated further in this study.

At last, In this project, I would like to try to critically analyze the merits and demerits of Karl
Marx’s view on state.

1.1 Literature Review

• Ken Morrison, MARX, DURKHEIM, WEBBER (FORMATIONS OF MODERN SOCIAL

THOUGHT), Sage publications, 2008
This book was critical to the study. Ken Morrison has arranged the events that led to the birth
of modern social thinking in this order. It explains Karl Marx's ideology and how he employed
economic and social principles to explain historical progress. The chapter on Marx began with
a brief introduction to his biography, in which Morrison discussed how Marx was originally
inspired by reading Georg Hegel's works. The book includes the theoretical perspective of
materialism, which involves investigating the true conditions of human existence, particularly

1
Ken Morrison, MARX, DURKHEIM, WEBBER (FORMATIONS OF MODERN SOCIAL THOUGHT), Sage publications,
2008, 127
those connected to the fulfilment of basic economic and material necessities. His opinions on
the functions of the state are nicely ordered in the book, which really aided the researcher in
continuing with this study work.

• Peter Singer, A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION, MARX, Oxford University Press, 2000
In this book, author Peter Singer has crafted an extremely balanced depiction of Karl Marx and
his achievements. It has been shown to be valuable to researchers in gaining some insight into
Marx's biography and how and when he was motivated to hold such revolutionary beliefs. The
volumes describe his rocky start to his intellectual career when he was seventeen years old and
went to study law at the University of Bonn. Within a year, he was imprisoned for drinking and
was slightly injured in a duel. It also noted the enormous relationship between Marx and G.W.F.
Hegel, whose philosophy enhanced the former's writings. The essay concludes with a critique
of Marx's theories.

• OP Gauba, An Introduction to Political Theory, National Publishing House, 2019

This book was a huge aid in understanding the many words that were largely required
to comprehend the issue at hand. It outlines the state's origins as well as several
perspectives on what the state's functions should be.

• Dr. Vidya Dhar Mahajan, POLITICAL THEORY (PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL SCIENCE), S.

Chand Publishing, 2019
Using this book, the researcher attempts to comprehend the notion of the state and its functions
in its entirety. The book assists the researcher in gaining a fundamental understanding of the
origin and importance of the state, its role and functions, and its relationship to the many areas of
public life, namely social, economic, and cultural. According to the books, "in order to obtain a
thorough image of modern society, a study of Marxism is highly vital as it is playing a significant
role in the lives of millions of human-beings all over the world." The chapter Marxism and
Bolshevism sheds light on several topics such as dialectical materialism, historical materialism,
economic interpretation of history or economic determinism, class conflict theory, labour theory
of value, capitalism, Marx on state, critique, merits, and so on.
1.2 Scope and Objectives

Scope

This project will seek to comprehend the overall concept of state and its numerous components.
Then comprehend the Marxist perspective of the state and its functions. Finally, to critically
examine the Marxist conception of the state and determine its advantages and disadvantages.

Objectives

• To try and understand the idea of State

• To understand the Karl Marx view on state
• To critically analyze Marx view on state its merits and demerits

1.3 Research Questions

• What is Karl Marx view on State?

• What are the merits of Marxist view on State?
• What are the demerits of Marxist view on State?

1.4 Research Methodology

In this research work, the Doctrinal Method of Explanatory Research Design has been employed
for conducing the research. Only secondary sources such as books, articles and journals have
been used for the collection of information for the research work.

2. The Idea of State

There is no commonly recognised definition of the state, and this is not exclusive to the notion of
the state; it is a basic and unsolved topic in the study of human civilization. According to Rodee,
Anderson, Christol, and Greene (1983: 20), the unwillingness of many who offer opinions about
the nature of the state to define precisely what the state is is a measure of the difficulty of
answering such questions as what the state is, how it begins and develops, and what it does. As
they put it, ‘‘no one definition will please everybody, and many definitions may please only those
who write them.’’2

One of the most basic definitions of condition is A state is a legally binding political organisation
with a centralised government that has a monopoly on the authorised use of force within a certain
geographical region.

Aside from Marxist theory, a variety of alternative viewpoints have been established to explain
the origins and character of the State. The formation of these disparate viewpoints underscores
philosophical and scholarly disagreements about the genesis and nature of the State. Oyediran
(1998: 19) provides a brief assessment of some of these notions as follows:

• The Divine Theory – The theory of divine origin is the oldest among all theories.
According to this theory state is established and governed by God himself.
• The Social Contract Theory – The concept of popular sovereignty constitutes the base of
this theory. The theory of popular sovereignty suggests that the state is the creation of
men through a social contract to which they had all consented. It was theorized by mainly
there theorists namely Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau
• The Force Theory – According to this theory state is a creation of conquest and coercion
of the weak by the strong. The State was seen as evil because the it was a representation
of the oppression of the weak by the strong.
• The Natural Theory – This theory is mainly derived from the Greek philosopher
Aristotle’s idea that man is a political animal whose self-actualization can only be
achieved in a state. In this theory Man, and the State were seen as mutually inclusive and
inseparable and that the state is a natural creation.

Hartmann also comments on the notion of the State, stating that as a legal term, the State
delineates a region within which given State institutions/apparatuses have authority, such as the
monopoly of the use of justified violence. One may also consider the state to be a social
organisation that coexists and interacts with various official and informal organisations ranging
from families to commercial businesses to religious organisations. It differs from the plethora of
other organisations in that it seeks supremacy over them and seeks to impose binding regulations
on the operations of the other organisations (Bratton, 1989, cited in Hartman, 1994: 219).

2
Bassey Obo, Ugumanin & Coker, Maurice, “The Marxist Theory of the State: An Introductory Guide.
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences” (2014) 528
The state has also been conceived of as the most inclusive organisation, having official structures
for controlling the most important external connections of individuals under its purview. It is the
fundamental political unit, a gathering of humans organised in a specified region to pursue its
common benefit, maintain law and order, and carry out external contacts with other groups
similarly organized. It has also been stated that a state is an organisation whose administrative
organ is the government, and that it has a constitution, a system of laws, a method of establishing
its government, and a body of people.

2.1 The Elements of State

The four main elements of state namely a) population b) territory c) government d) sovereignty
would be discussed below.

2.1.1 Population

Men, women, and children make up the State. Thus, the population of a state includes citizens or
subjects who have full civil rights and owe allegiance, nationals or natives of a state's
dependencies, slaves, foreigners, or citizens and subjects of other states who dwell inside the
territory of a particular state.3

2.1.2 Territory

Every State is located inside a specified region with distinct limits that do not overlap the
territory of any other State. The territory of a state encompasses not only the land itself, but
also the air above it, the waters stretching away from its shore for a distance of twelve miles,
lakes, mountains, and any other topographical characteristics as well as natural resources.

2.1.3 Government

The government is regarded as the state's essence. "Every State, in summary, is a territorial
society split into government and subjects, the government being a body of individuals inside the

3
Bassey Obo, Ugumanin & Coker, Maurice, “The Marxist Theory of the State: An Introductory Guide.
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences” (2014) 529
territorial society who are allowed to employ force to ensure that these imperatives are fulfilled,"
Harold Laski writes. In a democracy the government has three organs-

a) Legislature- performs law making functions.

b) Executive- enforces and implements the laws.
c) Judiciary- performs adjudication functions.

2.1.4 Sovereignty

Crick claims that According to Crick (1973), the contemporary state is, above all, a sovereign
state: it aims to be the single authority and effective power inside a specific area, and it wants to
preserve that region's independence. Internal and external sovereignty are the two forms of
sovereignty.4

Internal sovereignty means the power of the State to order and regulate all the activities of all the
people, groups and institutions inside its own territorial boundaries. All these institutions must
act in accordance with the laws of the state failing which the state can punish according to the
laws of the state. External sovereignty means the complete freedom of the state from external
control which means that the state is not bound to follow the orders of any other state if it does
not intend to.

No state can become a state without sovereignty.

3. Karl Marx on State

In the book Communist Manifests by Marx and Engels, the modern state has been defined as
“...a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” So according to
Marx, the capitalist class who own most of society’s wealth and means of production are the
ones who hold control over the functioning of the state. The proletariat or the working class
people are the ones who are subjugated by the bourgeoisie, although they are more in numbers
than the latter.

4
Bassey Obo, Ugumanin & Coker, Maurice, “The Marxist Theory of the State: An Introductory Guide.
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences” (2014) 529
 3.1 Origin of the state

According to Marxist theory, the state originated as a result of the partition of society into hostile
classes in order to restrain the exploited majority in the interests of the exploiting minority. It is
an organisation that allows a dominating class to keep control over a weaker class. He further
claims that the foundation of the state is neither the outcome of popular will or a tool for
resolving the numerous competing interests of the people. It arose as a result of the establishment
of private property, which resulted in the split of society into two groups, the bourgeoisie and
the proletariat. Furthermore, the state is regarded as a representation of human alienation; it is
the result of being a mechanical member of a social class, the situation of which separates a
person from their humanity.

3.2 Class view of the state

The Class perspective of the state is a theory in and of itself, and it is related with Marxism.
According to this thesis, society is split into two classes: dominant and dependent. The state is
regarded as less powerful than economic power, and as a result, the ruling class wields all
political authority. Furthermore, the state is regarded as an artificial mechanism produced by the
dominant class rather than a natural or ethical institution.
According to Marx, there is a clear difference between the state and society, and they do not
coexist. Because the state was not created by the people, it has become essentially a mechanism
through which the ruling class derives advantage for itself. It has not existed since eternity,
making the state an unnatural institution. It is neither the consequence of reason, as the idealists
claim, nor a deliberate invention, as the liberals say; rather, it is a tool of class power whose goal
is to promote the interests of the ruling class at the expense of the hostile class. The state is the
manifestation of social injustice, but the ultimate goal is to build a classless society with true
equality through a proletarian revolution.

3.3 Evolution of State

According to Marxian theory, the evolution of the state is divided into five stages: primitive-
communal system, slave system, feudal system, capitalist system, proletarian dictatorship, and
Communist state. An key insight from these stages is that the state's exploitative behaviour has
remained constant throughout history.

• The Primitive-Communal System

This is a pre-state stage that signifies the beginning of social existence. A political state did not
exist during this time period; instead, a social state functioned with archaic labour tools. There
was collective ownership, and people did common labour like hunting and gathering.
Furthermore, the results of their labour were distributed to everybody. Because there was no
idea of private ownership, there was no clear separation on the basis of class.
However, as time passed, division of labour and product exchange evolved as a result of the
growth of productive forces such as metal instruments replacing stone and wooden instruments,
new methods of production in agriculture, animal husbandry, handicrafts, and so on. The notion
of private ownership arose here.
• The Slave System
In this system, the notion of private property appeared not only in the shape of means of
production, but also in the form of slaves who were viewed as the property of their owners.
Their masters gave them with food and water, which was insufficient to ensure their survival.
The state apparatus was established to assure the masters' continuing power. The prime function
of the state was to protect the private property of the slave-owners. The state was also to see that
the slave owners got a constant supply of slaves from prisoners of war and bankrupt debtors
who were turned into slaves.5
However, when large-scale agriculture became the primary form of production, the slave system
gave way to the feudal system.

• The Feudal System

Under the feudal system, the means of production consisted primarily in the form of land which
was owned by feudal lords and labour was done by peasants. 6 A difference in this system and
the previous one is that the subjugated class, i.e. the serfs, had their own personal belongings
and were not considered as the slaves of the feudal lords.
However, it is said that the exploitation in this period was more rampant and the class
demarcations became clearer. This system was then replaced by the capitalist system after the
mechanization of production processes.

• The Capitalist System

This system is central to Marxist ideology. It is also regarded as the system of the present. This
structure represents the growth of industries and industrial production, which further entrenched
the division of labour. The means of production were entrusted to a few or the capitalist class,
while the rest of society was transformed into the worker class.

5
Dr. V.D. Mahajan, Political Theory (Principles of Political Science), S. Chand Publishing, 2015, 576
6
Dr. V.D. Mahajan, Political Theory (Principles of Political Science), S. Chand Publishing, 2015, 576
There were no restrictions on workers moving from one business to another, but working
conditions were always in the control of their employers. In this sense, they did lose some of
their liberty.

• Dictatorship of the Proletariat

This epoch marks the reign of the proletariat following a revolutionary transition that saw the
capitalist system overthrown. There is a "bloody revolution" that leads to proletarian rule. It is
a phase of transition between the capitalist system and the rise of a classless society.
Dictatorship of the proletariat is considered necessary for crushing the opposition by the
exploitative capitalist class and for guiding the population in the journey of economic socialist
reconstruction. One part of this stage is destructive, while the other is constructive. The creative
part of this approach necessitates considerable effort and is dependent on scientifically informed
personnel.

• The Communist System

As long as the proletariat maintains its rule and class is abolished, the state will have no
repressive functions to undertake. The state will wither away and eventually cease to exist. Marx
refers to the "communist" system as the formation of a new classless society. The community
owns everything, and everyone gives and gets according on their abilities and needs.

4. Criticism of Marxist Theory

Some critiques have been addressed against the Marxist perspective of the State. For instance,
it has been maintained that it is erroneous to suggest that the State is a simple weapon of
exploitation and oppression by one class over another as it is an agency of public welfare, and
its ultimate objective is, in Aristotelian view, to make ‘‘good life’’ possible for its inhabitants.
It is also argued that the aspect of exploitation should not be viewed as the sole or crucial
component in building and sustaining the entire political framework since ‘‘many causes helped
to generate the type of political allegiance without which the state could never have developed
to maturity.’’ It has similarly been claimed that to regard the State as a simple machinery of
coercion is a mistake; whereas it is true that the State utilizes force to deal with its adversaries
and it exerts coercion to seek the execution of its laws, force is not the sole element that compels
adherence of the people.
Another critique commonly raised against the Marxist perspective of the State has to do with
the assumption that the State would wither away when classes have ceased to exist in society.
The point here is that even if it were feasible to remove classes, the state may continue to be.
For, as it has been stated, ‘‘you may get rid of class conflict in the Marxist sense, yet still
discover that mankind will persevere in quarrelling’’. This stance is claimed to hinge on the
failure to create a distinction – which is extremely fundamental – between social power and the
state. There is no question that, ‘‘there is coercive power in every human group and there was
one in the tribal system and in the family, but there was no state... the distinguishing element of
the state is the presence of a special class of individuals in whose hands power is concentrated.’’
Thus, since social power precedes the establishment of the State as a public power over society,
‘‘it will endure in one form or another even when the state disappears.’’ This social force will
take care of whatever quarrels may develop in society.

5. Conclusion
In this project work, an introductory examination of the Marxist theory of the state has been
offered. The fact has been stressed that the Marxist viewpoint on the state is antithetical to the
liberal theoretical traditions which reject the class nature of the state. These non-Marxist views
consider the state as a neutral and non-partisan power formed in the society for the aim of
upholding law, order, and stability, as well as the promotion of the benefit of all people. This
means that the state is an objective entity formed for the protection and development of the
interests of all people, irrespective of their place in the production process or relations of
production. The Marxist perspective of the State obviously rejects the preceding claims; it views
the State as primarily a tool of exploitation and control of one class (the poor, workers, and non-
owners of means of production) by another class (the affluent and the capital-owners) (the rich
and the capital-owners). Marxist theory claims that the state is founded by the most powerful
class in society; it is utilized by this dominant class to repress and oppress other social classes,
and in the process, it is a tool for the consolidation and reproduction of the ruling class. The
State is employed for these goals in class warfare via the preservation of private property and
the exploitation of the weaker classes, which are founded ultimately on force. Marxists believe
that at a given time in the evolution of the society, classes shall cease to exist, and the state shall
become a thing of the past by ‘‘withering away’’. This is after the proletariat must have
overthrown the bourgeois class and acquired the position of the ruling class by establishing the
‘‘dictatorship of the proletariat’’.
 6. Bibliography

Bassey Obo, Ugumanin & Coker, Maurice, “The Marxist Theory of the State: An Introductory Guide.
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences” (2014).

Dr. V.D. Mahajan, Political Theory (Principles of Political Science), S. Chand Publishing, 2015,

Ken Morrison, MARX, DURKHEIM, WEBBER (FORMATIONS OF MODERN SOCIAL THOUGHT), Sage
publications, 2008.

https://www.scribd.com/376674152/Karl-Marx-State-A-Critical-Analysis (Accessed 15th April 2022 at 11:05 am).

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marxism.asp (Accessed 16th April 2022 at 12:14 pm).

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Sociology/Introduction_to_Sociology/Book%3A_Sociology_(Boundl
ess)/15%3A_Government/15.02%3A_Government_and_the_State/15.2A%3A_Functions_of_the_State
(Accessed 16th April 2022 at 1:07 pm)

OP Gauba, An Introduction to Political Theory, National Publishing House, 2019.

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