this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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no state has achieved the liberation of the working class, because the function of the state is to expand and perpetuate its hegemonic power and influence. state authority is fundamentally oppressive.
The State power- as a lesson of history- Cannot be wielded for good. It is a corrupting power with its own momentum and incentives.
This is precisely why any positive accomplishments of the Leninist states were undone by corruption, bureaucracy, and power-seeking.
Because the very structure of a state by itself makes it not only possible, but inevitable.
What if class was to be determined by both economics (exploitation) and power (oppression), therefore in the USSR all the leninist reformists did was to exchange the wealthy upper class for the all powerful upper class. So at best Leninism is a bad reform of capitalism.
No state can ever achieve anything more than the liberation of the capitalist class. The only liberation for the masses is to seek alternative ways to self govern and abolish any centralized power structures from reforming again.