The Transformation of the State Through Socialism

I don't think most liberal theorists of the state believe that there was like a real state of nature with a social contract right? It's seen more as an imaginary situation that allows us to consider the you know conditions in which the state serves the populace in some way. Even these more advanced liberal theorists, I'm thinking of people like Rawlsright? And the notion of the original position still try to imagine society in the state ex-meolo and out of nothing right? There is still this thought experiment that is engaged in as the starting point. When you compare it to what we see in this text, it really just does look almost childish right? Alongside an actual exploration of history