No. The withering away of the state is predicated upon a couple of things: the withering away of the need for massive organized armed bodies of men domestically and internationally; the destruction of the value relations and the resolution of class antagonism. I was reluctant to reply to the question posed by this thread because it seemed to pose matters outside the concept of the state "as the irreconcilability of class antagonisms." For the state to begin its process of withering class antagonism - property as class, must be in the process of withering. Further, in Anti-Duhring, Marx and Engels outline the precondition for the state to wither away as state, founded and predicated on "the concept of the state as the irreconcilability of class antagonisms." The Soviet state as state was overthrown. In their comments, Marx and Engels wrote that only the residual aftermath of value would remain. Thus, riveting the state to the division of labor in society. Although administered by government the social safety net, welfare, housing, etc., is not the state. All government bureaucracies are not the meaning of the state, although the state as state has its bureaucracy, or it could not be an organized structure.
I do not understand the Housing agency - HUD, to fall within the scope and meaning for the state as defined above by Lenin and Engels and Marx. Rather, HUD is an agency of the government as a bureaucracy. The Pentagon, a government agency is on the other hand a part of the state because of its function and role in society. WL. **************Need a job? Find an employment agency near you. (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=employment_agencies&ncid=emlcntusyelp00000003) _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
