"country held by various socialist and anarchist thinkers of the nineteenth century as well as some present-day anarchists (libertarians are anti-statist typically in a subtly different sense, in that they support small government although not absence of government or state). The crux here is a text of the Friedrich Engels, from his ""Anti-Dühring"". It is often cited as ""The state is not 'abolished,' it withers away"". This is from the pioneer work of historical materialism, a formulation of Marx's idea of a materialist conception of history. The withering away of the state is a graphic formulation, that has passed into"
"Withering away of the state ""Withering away of the state"" is a Marxist concept coined by Friedrich Engels referring to the idea that with realization of the ideals of socialism the social institution of a state will eventually become obsolete and disappear as the society will be able to govern itself without the state and its coercive enforcement of the law. The phrase was coined by Friedrich Engels in part 3, chapter 2, of ""Anti-Dühring"": Another related quote from Engels comes from ""Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State"": Although Engels first introduced the idea of the withering"
"one of the classic definitions of the term Political economy: ""Political economy, in the widest sense, is the science of the laws governing the production and exchange of the material means of subsistence in human society... Political economy is therefore essentially a ""historical"" science. It deals with material which is historical, that is, constantly changing."" This work is also the source of a widely quoted aphorism: ""The state is not abolished, it withers away."" Another well-known sentence refers approvingly to Hegel: ""To him, freedom is the insight into necessity (die Einsicht in die Notwendigkeit)."" Anti-Dühring Anti-Dühring (, ""Herr Eugen Dühring's"
"the withering away of State power —this is the Marxian formula. Is this contradictory? Yes, it is contradictory. But this contradiction springs from life itself and reflects completely Marxist dialectic. At the 1939 18th Congress, Stalin abandoned the idea that the state would wither away. In its place, he expressed confidence that the state would exist, even if the Soviet Union reached communism, as long as it was encircled by capitalism. Two key concepts were created in the latter half of his rule; the ""two camp"" theory and the ""capitalist encirclement"" theory. The threat of capitalism was used to strengthen"
"Soviet Union, Lenin supported the idea of the withering away of the state as seen in his ""The State and Revolution"" (1917). Joseph Stalin's government mentioned it occasionally, but did not believe the world was yet in the advanced stage of development where the state could wither away. He believed at least in the short term that the state had to have enough power to strike back against those elements seeking to derail the ultimate victory of communism. Thus, the Stalin-era Soviet Union marginalized the notion of the withering of the state. Withering away of the state ""Withering away of"
"all countries. The original ideology of the state was primarily based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In its essence, Marx's theory stated that economic and political systems went through an inevitable revolution based upon class struggle, by which the current capitalist system would be destroyed or abolished before achieving international cooperation and peace in a ""Workers' Paradise,"" creating a system directed by what Marx called ""Pure Communism."" Marx favoured abolishment of the bourgeois state and to establish a new state, however not a copy of the old. A state is not supposed to exist forever and"
"the philosophy of state socialism was first explicitly expounded by the German political philosopher Ferdinand Lassalle. In contrast to Karl Marx's perspective of the state, Lassalle rejected the concept of the state as a class-based power structure whose main function was to preserve existing class structures. Thus Lassalle also rejected the Marxist view that the state was destined to ""wither away"". Lassalle considered the state to be an entity independent of class allegiances and an instrument of justice that would therefore be essential for achieving socialism. Preceding the Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia, many socialists including reformists, orthodox Marxist currents such"
"thing that is being pushed forward is profit, good or badly acquired. And so to fight against capitalism is a pointless task, since be it State capitalism or Enterprise capitalism, as long as Government exists, exploiting capital will exist. The fight, but of consciousness, is against the State"". His view on class division and technocracy are as follows: ""Since when no one works for another, the profiteer from wealth disappears, just as government will disappear when no one pays attention to those who learned four things at universities and from that fact they pretend to govern men. Big industrial enterprises"
"peaceful evolution to superate it. Though philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for the elimination of the State, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey the State, or conversely, that the State has a right to command. Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism. Philosophical anarchists of historical note include Mohandas Gandhi, William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Max Stirner, Benjamin Tucker, and Henry David Thoreau. Contemporary philosophical anarchists include A. John Simmons and Robert Paul Wolff. Subjectivism is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as"
"away of the state, he attributed the underlying concept to Karl Marx, and other Marxist theorists—including Vladimir Lenin—would later expand on it. According to this concept of the withering away of the state, eventually a communist society will no longer require coercion to induce individuals to behave in a way that benefits the society. Such a society would occur after a temporary period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It proceeds from the concept of the transformation of the state in the previous stage of society called socialism. In socialism, Engels posits that—similar to the arguments made by Henri de"
"formula. Is this ""contradictory""? Yes, it is ""contradictory."" But this contradiction springs from life itself and reflects completely Marxist dialectic. The idea that the state would wither away was later abandoned by Stalin at the 18th Congress (held in 1939), in which he expressed confidence that the state would exist, even if the Soviet Union reached communism, as long as it was encircled by capitalism. Two key concepts were created in the later half of his rule; the ""two camp"" theory and that of ""capitalist encirclement"". The threat of capitalism was used to strengthen Stalin's personal powers, and Soviet propaganda"
"and works which would both systematize previous philosophy, and present a deep challenge to the basis of how philosophy had been systematized. Immanuel Kant is a name that most would mention as being among the most important of influences, as is Jean-Jacques Rousseau. While both of these philosophers were products of the 18th century and its assumptions, they pressed at the boundaries. In trying to explain the nature of the state and government, Rousseau would challenge the basis of government with his declaration that ""Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains"". Kant, while attempting to preserve axiomic skepticism,"
"Georgian Romanian, Turkish and Yiddish. Citations Sources God and the State God and the State (called by its author The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism) is an unfinished manuscript by the Russian anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, published posthumously in 1882. The work criticises Christianity and the then-burgeoning technocracy movement from a materialist, anarchist and individualist perspective. Early editions contained rewrites by Carlo Cafiero and Élisée Reclus in order to make the work more poetic in the translated French and due to misreadings, but later translations have attempted to remain more faithful to the original text. It has"
"God and the State God and the State (called by its author The Historical Sophisms of the Doctrinaire School of Communism) is an unfinished manuscript by the Russian anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, published posthumously in 1882. The work criticises Christianity and the then-burgeoning technocracy movement from a materialist, anarchist and individualist perspective. Early editions contained rewrites by Carlo Cafiero and Élisée Reclus in order to make the work more poetic in the translated French and due to misreadings, but later translations have attempted to remain more faithful to the original text. It has gone on to become Bakunin's most widely"
"cliché. The translation (Engels was writing in German) is also given as: ""The state is not 'abolished'. It dies out"". Reference to the whole passage shows that this happens only after the proletariat has seized the means of production. The schematic is therefore revolution, transitional period, ultimate period. Although the ultimate period sounds like a utopia, Marx and Engels did not consider themselves utopian socialists, but rather scientific socialists. They considered violence necessary for resistance of wage slavery. Whereas for Engels the transitional period was reduced to a single act, for Lenin thirty to forty years later it had become"
"to hold, even though it is not the one that, as a matter of historical fact, has been adopted by the SPGB"" and ""do[es] not regard it as a matter for serious dispute"". Socialist Studies accuses the SPGB of coming under the influence of anarchist ideas and not sufficiently emphasising the parliamentary aspect of the socialist revolution. Socialist Studies claims that the SPGB's position is that the state would be abolished immediately upon the overthrow of class society whereas Socialist Studies's position is that the state would ""gradually wither away"" instead. Referring to the SPGB's 1984 conference resolution (since rescinded)"
"chaos. Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Irish philosopher and statesman praised by both his conservative and liberal peers for his ""comprehensive intellect"", saw religion as the basis of civil society and wrote that ""man is by his constitution a religious animal; that atheism is against, not only our reason, but our instincts; and that it cannot prevail long"". Pope Pius XI wrote that Communist atheism was aimed at ""upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization"". In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II criticised a spreading ""practical atheism"" as clouding the ""religious and moral sense of"
"Republic (Zeno) The Republic () was a work written by Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoic philosophy at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Although it has not survived, it was his most famous work, and various quotes and paraphrases were preserved by later writers. The purpose of the work was to outline the ideal society based on Stoic principles, where virtuous men and women would live a life of simple asceticism in an equal society. Written, it would seem, in conscious opposition to Plato's ""Republic"", Zeno's ""Republic"" (""politeia"") outlined the principles of an ideal state written from"
"Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of transcendentalism in his 1836 essay ""Nature"". Following this work, he gave a speech"
"Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (see name pronunciation; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book ""Walden"", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay ""Civil Disobedience"" (originally published as ""Resistance to Civil Government""), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the"
"an effect of government; the disappearance of government means capitalism falls from its pedestal vertiginously...That which we call capitalism is not something else but a product of the State, within which the only thing that is being pushed forward is profit, good or badly acquired. And so to fight against capitalism is a pointless task, since be it State capitalism or Enterprise capitalism, as long as Government exists, exploiting capital will exist. The fight, but of consciousness, is against the State."". His view on property and technocracy are as follows ""¿Property? Is not a problem. Since when no one works"
"wrote: ""The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else"". Henry David Thoreau wrote: ""I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, 'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have"". The early liberals believed that the state should confine its role to protecting"
"Ship of State The Ship of State is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in Book VI of the ""Republic"" (488a–489d). It likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship () are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. The origins of the metaphor can be traced back to the lyric poet Alcaeus (frs. 6, 208, 249), and it is found in Sophocles’ Antigone and Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes"
"guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion was not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. Therefore atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further: and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Cæsar) were civil times. But superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravished all the spheres of government"". Percy Bysshe Shelley cites this passage in his essay The Necessity of Atheism. Yet even more than this,"
"vertiginously...That which we call capitalism is not something else but a product of the State, within which the only thing that is being pushed forward is profit, good or badly acquired. And so to fight against capitalism is a pointless task, since be it State capitalism or Enterprise capitalism, as long as Government exists, exploiting capital will exist. The fight, but of consciousness, is against the State"". His view on class division and technocracy are as follows ""Since when no one works for another, the profiteer from wealth disappears, just as government will disappear when no one pays attention to"
"were discovered in 1945, part of the Nag Hammadi library, written ca. 350 CE. These findings highlight the influence of Plato during those times in Egypt. Republic (Plato) The Republic (, Politeia; Latin: Res Publica) is a Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BC, concerning justice (), the order and character of the just city-state, and the just man. It is Plato's best-known work, and has proven to be one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses with various Athenians and foreigners about the meaning of"
"the Apology. Though he was sentenced to death by the state, Socrates had the chance to escape and refused, instead choosing to drink hemlock. Another famous philosopher of the Greco-Roman world with strong views on the subject was Plato. We learn from J.M. Rist that, “in the Phaedo Plato allows a very small loophole in his condemnation of the frequent Greek practice of suicide… What ought a man to suffer, asks Plato, if he kills that which is most truly his own… that is, if he takes his own life?” Plato believed that the state and the gods were associated,"
"Stoicism, who was much influenced by the Cynics, described his vision of a utopian society around 300 BC. Zeno's ""Republic"" advocates a form of anarchism in which there are no need for state structures. According to the 20th century anarchist Peter Kropotkin, Zeno was ""[t]he best exponent of Anarchist philosophy in ancient Greece"". As summarized by Kropotkin, Zeno ""repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual"". Within Greek philosophy, Zeno's vision of a free community without government is opposed to the state-utopia of Plato's ""Republic"". Zeno argued"
"""by Zeno things were written which they [the Stoics] do not readily allow disciples to read, without their first giving proof whether or not they are genuine philosophers."" Regardless of these views, it is clear that Zeno was one of the first philosophers in a long tradition begun by Plato of depicting an ideal society in order to understand ethical principles. Republic (Zeno) The Republic () was a work written by Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoic philosophy at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Although it has not survived, it was his most famous work, and various"
"morality, and the State. This is mind in the condition of out-of-itself. There follows the condition of absolute mind, the state in which mind rises above all the limitations of nature and institutions, and is subjected to itself alone in art, religion, and philosophy. For the essence of mind is freedom, and its development must consist in breaking away from the restrictions imposed on it in it otherness by nature and human institutions. Hegel's philosophy of the State, his theory of history, and his account of absolute mind are perhaps the most often-read portions of his philosophy due to their"
"Adam Smith Adam Smith ( 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist, philosopher and author as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith wrote two classic works, ""The Theory of Moral Sentiments"" (1759) and ""An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"" (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as ""The Wealth of Nations"", is considered his ""magnum opus"" and the first modern work of economics. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one"
"is the movement led by Mohandas Gandhi in the struggle for Indian Independence. While it is true that in particular instances (e.g. when threatened with arrest) practitioners in such movements might follow the line of non-resistance, such movements are more accurately described as cases of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Perhaps the oldest recorded statement of nonresistance philosophy is that of Socrates around 399 BC. An influential ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates was sentenced to death by the Athenian democracy for teaching his students to question authority and think for themselves. Socrates accepted his fate on reasons of morality and justice,"
"that ""Socialism will entail the immediate abolition of and not the gradual decline of the State"", Socialist Studies writes: If you are in favour of the immediate abolition of the State when Socialism is established then you are in favour of its immediate abolition here and now, which is of course the anarchist position. [...] Unless Socialists use the power of the machinery of government to dispossess the capitalist class they will be unable to establish Socialism. We find it inconceivable that intelligent Socialists of a future generation would even consider such an act of monumental stupidity. Much of the"