5. The Economic Basis for the Withering Away of the State¶
Core Argument¶
In his Critique of the Gotha Programme, Marx provides the definitive economic basis for the withering away of the state, a process inseparable from the transition from capitalism to full communism. He begins by distinguishing between capitalist ‘present-day society’ and the ‘present-day state’, the latter varying by country but sharing essential features rooted in bourgeois social relations. The transition from capitalism to communism requires a political interregnum during which the state can only be the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. Under capitalism, democracy is a restricted affair, serving the rich minority; the dictatorship of the proletariat inverts this, expanding democracy to the vast majority while forcibly suppressing the exploiting remnant. This is not a state in the proper sense, for suppression becomes the task of the armed majority, requiring no special machine of coercion. Only in full communism, when classes are abolished and the material causes of excesses—exploitation and poverty—are eliminated, does the state become absolutely unnecessary and begin to wither away.
Marx identifies two distinct phases of communist society. In the first, lower phase (socialism), emerging directly from the womb of capitalism, the means of production are socialised, but distribution still proceeds according to labour performed. This applies an equal measure—labour time—to unequal individuals, thereby perpetuating ‘bourgeois right’ and inequality in consumption, though exploitation is impossible. The principles “he who does not work shall not eat” and “equal products for equal labour” are realised, yet this remains bourgeois law because it rewards unequal individuals unequally for unequal labour. This defect is unavoidable; the abolition of capitalism does not instantly create the economic prerequisites for people to work without legal rules. Consequently, a state is still needed to safeguard common ownership and enforce equality in labour and distribution. The state withers away insofar as classes are suppressed, but not completely, because it must still defend bourgeois right. For the state to fully wither away, the higher phase of communism is necessary. This requires the disappearance of the antithesis between mental and physical labour, the transformation of labour into life’s prime want, and the immense development of productive forces. Only then can society adopt the rule: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. The time required for this is unknowable. The scientific distinction between socialism and communism is thus clear: socialism retains the narrow horizon of bourgeois law and even the bourgeois state without the bourgeoisie. Democracy, which means formal equality, is a stage on the road to communism; when all administer the state, the need for government disappears and the state withers away completely.