Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

Tom Clark

The State and Counter-Revolution

A Critical History of the Marxist Theory of the State


First Written: 1983.
Revised: 1989-90.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Rick Atkinson and Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.


CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: THE STATE AND REVOLUTION ACCORDING TO LENIN

CHAPTER TWO: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MARX AND ENGELS’ VIEWS ON THE STATE

A. Marx and Engels’ Early Views
B. The Experience of the 1848 Revolutions
C. The Retreat 1852-71
D. The Paris Commune of 1871
E. Following the Paris Commune
F. The Last Words of Marxism on the State

CHAPTER THREE: STATE AND REVOLUTION APPLIED TO THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A. Petty Bourgeois Democracy or Socialism
B. Constituent Assembly or Soviet Power
C. Parliamentarism or Revolutionary Overthrow
D. “Smashing” the Old State Apparatus
E. The Class Content of the Communist Movement

CHAPTER FOUR: THE QUESTION OF THE STATE IN THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL

A. The First Congress-1919
B. The Second Congress-1920
C. The Third Congress-1921
D. The Fourth Congress-1922
E. The Fifth Congress-1924
F. The SixthCongress-1928
G. The Seventh Congress-1935
H. Between the Seventh Congress and Dissolution of the Comintern 1936-1943

CHAPTER FIVE: PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY

A. Eastern Europe
B. The United States and Great Britain
C. China
D. The USSR
E. The Question of the State In the Split of the International Movement
F. A Soviet Interpretation of State and Revolution

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX I: The View From Inside: George Konrad and Ivan Szelenyi’s The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power

APPENDIX II: Western Marxism at its Worst: Hal Draper’s Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution/State and Bureaucracy

Bibliography & Chronology of Major Theoretical Events