If we understand the state to be any and all administration, then no, but that’s not the way Marx and Engels treated “statelessness.” Engels in particular referred to stateless administration as “The Administration of Things” as contrasted with state society as “the Government of Persons” in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. States are specific instruments of class oppression, without class, there’s no need for a state in the Marxist sense.
I’m personally skeptical that a complete lack of states can be achieved in practice. Humanity is simply too diverse, and it’s highly unlikely that everyone will agree on a single common system. Even if it was possible, lack of state would not mean lack of need for management and organization, so you would still have hierarchical structures in place to manage things.
That’s why Engels referred to the remnants left behind from a state that has withered away as the “Administration of Things.” It ceases to be an instrument of class oppression in a classless society, but administration remains a useful tool for Communist production.
If communism is a complete lack of a state, do you believe communism is possible?
If we understand the state to be any and all administration, then no, but that’s not the way Marx and Engels treated “statelessness.” Engels in particular referred to stateless administration as “The Administration of Things” as contrasted with state society as “the Government of Persons” in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. States are specific instruments of class oppression, without class, there’s no need for a state in the Marxist sense.
I’m personally skeptical that a complete lack of states can be achieved in practice. Humanity is simply too diverse, and it’s highly unlikely that everyone will agree on a single common system. Even if it was possible, lack of state would not mean lack of need for management and organization, so you would still have hierarchical structures in place to manage things.
That’s why Engels referred to the remnants left behind from a state that has withered away as the “Administration of Things.” It ceases to be an instrument of class oppression in a classless society, but administration remains a useful tool for Communist production.
exactly