After October: Towards a Theory of the Socialist State. Issue 3 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boer, Roland
• Is Part Of: International critical thought. Volume 7:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 309
• Page End: 326
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Bourgeois state -- socialist state -- Engels -- Lenin -- Stalin; Critical thinking -- Periodicals; Current events -- Periodicals; 153.4205
• DOI: 10.1080/21598282.2017.1355742
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2159-8282

Abstract

ABSTRACT: A consequence of the Russian Revolution was the emergence of the theory and practice of a new type of state. While the Soviet Union was not a federation, nation-state, empire or colonising power, it remains somewhat difficult to determine what type of state it was. This article offers a theoretical (rather than practical) analysis of the way the theoretical possibility of a new state, a socialist state, could emerge. The first step of the argument deals with broader theories of the state, although the vast majority focus on the European situation, variously calling it a nation-state, liberal state, capitalist state or bourgeois state. One searches in vain for detailed theoretical studies of the socialist state. The second step, therefore, concerns the first seeds of such a theory, which are found—perhaps surprisingly—in the works of Stalin.