Abstract

Lenin's views on the state in the period of transition to socialism have had a dominating influence on revolutionary socialists over the past three quarters of a century. His argument with reformist Social Democracy on the necessity of dismantling the bourgeois state apparatus has been historically vindicated. His argument for a strong workers state, however, has not withstood the test of time. The model in State and Revolution, following Marx, was the organization of the Paris Commune. This notion of a commune state, however, is not theoretically coherent within the framework of the Marxist concept of the state. Not one of the actual states governed by socialists in the 20th century has approximated this model. An alternative perspective is needed, and tentatively proposed.