The Foundational Historical Materialist Analysis of the Emergence of the State

The state is the organic mechanism by which the ruling classes instantiate the rule and fortify the economic base which privileges them. Lenin seized on the idea that Engels advanced regarding the state as inherently an instrument of class domination to craft his vision of a socialist state. This analysis developed by Marx and Engels and brought to new heights by Lenin stands in stark contrast to idealist liberal conceptions of the state. The long transition out of class society and toward a classless society is one that will still have classes and thus class struggle and the state will remain a necessary component during this time.