{"id":4863,"date":"2025-01-01T19:13:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T19:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/?p=4863"},"modified":"2025-08-20T12:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:55:11","slug":"state-theory-let-the-state-return-back-to-society-process-from-class-society-to-communism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/?p=4863&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"State Theory: Let the State Return Back to Society; Process from Class Society to Communism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

State Theory: Let the State Return Back to Society; Process from Class Society to Communism<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

September 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Yu Keping is the Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Government at Peking University, director of the Center for Chinese Political Studies. This article was originally published in the 9th issue of Theoretical Vision in 2013. The original title was “Let the State Return Back to Society – Marxist Views on the State and Society”. Yu Keping has long served as the chief expert and first person in charge of the “Study on the Basic Views of Classical Marxist Writers” project titled of the Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The relationship between the state and society is the key to understanding the materialist conception of history. Without studying the relationship between the state and society, it is impossible to correctly understand Marx’s materialist conception of history. The state that Marx refers to is neither a “country” in the sense of territory nor a “nation” in the sense of nation, but a “state” in the sense of regime\/political rule of power. Therefore, the process of “withering-away of the state” <\/a>(Absterben des Staates) in the Marxist texts is actually a process of returning of the state back to the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the basic organizational form of human survival, society coexists with man. As long as man exists, society will exist, and the State (A “state disappearance” in the Marxist context is actually a process of a state returning power to the people. As the basic organizational form of human survival, society always coexists with humans. As long as humans exist, society will exist, and the state is just a passer-by in human society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  The state must eventually return back to society, and the process of state\u2019s demise is the process of State returning to society. The shift of the focus of modern politics from government rule to governance is the logical result of the demise of the state; and the political development trend of “less government rule and more governance” is in line with the historical prediction of Marxism that the state will gradually wither away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Status of the Theory of State and Society in the Marxist Theoretical System<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

       In short, the relationship between the state and society is the logical starting point of the entire theory of historical materialism. Historical materialism is the theoretical cornerstone of the entire theoretical system of Marxism. Marx began his research for this cornerstone by studying the relationship between the state and society. Marx first studied the State and law in an attempt to explain the mystery of human social development. As a result, Marx found that the riddle of the State and law lay not in the state itself but within the civil society, so Marx turned to the study of civil society. But for Marx the answer to the riddle of civil society cannot be found in society either, but in economic relations, so Marx he began the study of political economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Therefore, before establishing his theories of historical materialism, Marx had already experienced a research process of ideological exploration from political life to social life and later to economic life. For Marx, the key to this intellectual journey was his research on the relationship between the state and society. In Marx\u2019s own famous words: My inquiry led me to the conclusion that neither legal relations nor political forms could be comprehended whether by themselves or on the basis of a so-called general development of the human mind, but that on the contrary legal relations and political forms originate in the material conditions of life, the totality of which Hegel, following the example of English and French thinkers of the 18th<\/sup> century, embraces within the term “civil society”; that the anatomy of this civil society, however, has to be sought in political economy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, it can be said that the relationship between the state and society is the key to understanding the materialist conception of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without studying the relationship between the state and society, it is impossible to correctly understand Marx’s materialist conception of history. How to view the relationship between the state and society directly affects the understanding of Marxism and even this determines the ideas of different schools of Marxism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, orthodox Marxism represented by Lenin and Stalin emphasizes that the state is more important than society. According to their thinking logic, the dictatorship of the proletariat is the highest form of the state.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Revisionist” Marxism represented by Kautsky and Bernstein emphasizes that society is more important than the state. According to their logic, social democracy is the highest form of the state.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Marxism represented by Gramsci, Habermas, and others regard society as a public space between the state system and the market system. According to their logic, civil society should be the highest form of the state.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marx’s thinking logic in analyzing the relationship between the state and society is methodologically revolutionary. Marx\u2019s ideas not only made a profound impact on different schools within the Marxist spectrum, but also had a significant impact on contemporary Western bourgeois socio-political theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marx divided society into political society (i.e., the state) and civil society (i.e., burger society), lays an important methodological foundation for contemporary Western bourgeois state theory and civil society theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marx praised Hegel for distinguishing between the state and civil society. Marx inherited Hegel’s distinction between the state and civil society, and at the same time Marx reversed the relationship between the two, and advocated that civil society determines the state, which is another point where Marx is more profound than Hegel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Key Points of Marxist Theory of State and Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparatively speaking, we have discussed and studied more about Marxist state theory and are more familiar with its main viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, the important viewpoints of Marxist state theory include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a) the state has not always existed, it is the product of class society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) the state is an apparatus of violence, which is essentially a instrument of class rule;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) the state is a parasite of human society and state is a necessary evil created by humans for the sake of class rule;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) the state has both the functions of class rule and public management, among which class rule is its essential function;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e) the state is a historical category, it will eventually wither away with the disappearance of classes, and the ideal communist society will be a “association of free humans” without a state;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

f) democracy is the highest form of the state, and the day when democracy will be fully realized is also the day when the state eventually withers away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state that Marx refers to is neither a “country” in the sense of territory of land nor a “nation” in the sense of nationality, but a “state” in the sense of regime\/ political power. Therefore, the process of “state\u2019s withering away” in the Marxist texts is actually a process of returning of state to the people (humans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with the theory of state, we Marxists have not done enough research on the society theory of Marxism. As a result, some of the “classical theories of Marxism” that we are accustomed to, such as the “five-stage theory of social development”, are now being questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to my research, in a narrow sense, Marx’s theory of society contains some important viewpoints:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 a) human beings can only live in communities, and society is the most basic community of human life;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) society is the basic organizational form of human beings, and other organizational forms of human beings are derived from society, such as the state and associations;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) human beings are social animals, and human beings cannot live without social life, and society shapes human attributes of humans;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) class society is the essence of civilized society, and modern society is capitalist society;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e) communist society is a “association of free humans”, which is the highest ideal society for mankind, and only in communist society can the human nature alienated by class society will be truly restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        On the relationship between the state and society, Marx and Engels’ main viewpoint is:  in the long river of human history, compared with the state, society is the foundation, the state originates from society, it is the society that determines the state, not the state that determines society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a class society, (for example capitalist society) the state, as the general representative of the ruling class, is above and overrides the society, the state controls the society, and society is subordinate to the state. As the basic organizational form of human existence, the society coexists with humans. As long as humans exist, society exists, and the state is just a passer-by in the development of human society. The state will eventually return back to society, and the process of the state’s demise is in fact the process of state\u2019s returning back to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Contemporary Significance of Marxist Theory of State and Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        As long as the state exists, there will inevitably be the relationship between the state and society. The Marxist theory on the relationship between the state and society still has important practical significance for us to think about state building and society building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Marx advocated that the state was born from society, but state is different from society. Society is the most basic community of mankind, and of which the state is only the political community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, in the relationship between the state and society, society is the fundamental and the state is the end. The relationship between the state and society should not be put in reverse, should not be taken with the state as the root and society as the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   We should look at the birth, development and demise of the state from the perspective of the development of the human society. In the past we have always focused our attention on State-building, but now we should gradually shift our focus from the State to society, attach greater importance to society-building and endeavor to unify State-building with society-building, place State-building in the midst of society-building and let State-building ultimately serve society-building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Marx accepted Hegel’s viewpoint and divided human society into political society and civil society, and reversed Hegel’s viewpoint, and argued that civil society determines political society or political state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marx\u2019s Concept of “civil society” with Three Meanings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marx actually used the concept of “civil society” with three meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Marx regarded “civil society” as “the sum of material life relations”, which is actually the economic base of the society. Second, Marx saw “civil society” as “bourgeois society”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, he saw “civil society” as the civil public sphere between the state and the market, which is what scholars of today call “civil society”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, in Marx’s works, the German word for “civil society” is B\u00fcrgerliche Gesellschaft, which can either be translated into “bourgeois society”, or as “civil society”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   It was not until contemporary German scholars that another German word Zivilgesellschaft was used instead of B\u00fcrgerliche Gesellschaft, which is equivalent to civil society in English, specifically referring to “civil society”.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In the past, when we studied Marx’s civil society thoughts, we focused our attention on the “economic base” or “bourgeois society”, and ignored the civil public sphere outside the state and market system, that is, we have ignored the civil society or civil society based on non-governmental organizations or social organizations. Marx advocated  that as long as there are political state and market economy, there must be a civil society that is relatively independent of the political state and the market system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Marx’s conception, there would be no market economy in socialist society. Now that we have developed Marxism in China, we have combined socialism with the market economy, and established a socialist market economy, then, according to Marx’s analytical logic, we can also draw the following conclusion: outside the state and market economy system, there should also exist a civil society in socialism. The state system should be based on government organizations represented by officials; the market system should be based on business organizations represented by entrepreneurs; the civil society should be based on non-governmental organizations or social organizations represented by citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking from the perspective of the long-term development trend of human society, the role of the state and the market system will be increasingly weakened, while the role of the civil society will be increasingly greater; in other words, in the process of moving towards the ideal communist society envisioned by Marx, the role of officials and business men will be increasingly weakened, while the role of citizens will be increasingly greater.  Marx and Engels insisted that the state as a political regime\/power must gradually wither away and in the ideal communist society as the “association of free men”, the state no longer exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       From Rule to Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

   This views of Marx and Engels’ predicted an important trend which we are observing in contemporary political development today, that is, the focus of human political processes has begun to gradually shift from rule by government (Ger. Regierung) to governance (Ger. Regieren).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rule is the one-way compulsory management of social affairs by the government or public authority institutions, while governance is the cooperative management of public affairs by government and the people. The shift of the focus of modern politics from rule to governance is the logical result of the withering away of the state; and the political development trend of “less rule and more governance” is in line with the historical prediction of Marxism that the state will gradually wither away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        To sum up, on the issue of the relationship between the state and society, Marx and Engels’ views are strikingly forward-looking and revolutionary, that is, they looked to the issue from the perspective of the entire human history, society is the foundation of the state, and the state is a burden to society. To achieve the free and comprehensive and all-sided development of humans, the state must gradually return back to society and gradually begin to wither away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Theory: Let the State Return Back to Society; Process from Class Society to Communism September 2013 Author Yu Keping is the Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Government at Peking University, director of the Center for Chinese Political Studies. This article was originally published in the 9th issue of Theoretical Vision in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-en","category-philosophy-en","category-socialism-en"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5737,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863\/revisions\/5737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksizm.org.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}