What do socialists say about the state?

What is the state? An overgrown behemoth, a neutral arbiter, a tool of the ruling class? In our first episode for 2024, Chloe and Emma explain the Marxist theory of the state. We also chat about what we read over the break. 

Further reading on the capitalist state:

- "What is the Australian State" - by David Peterson in Red Flag 

- "Marxism vs. the State" - by Sadia Schneider in Red Flag 

Emma and Chloe's summer reading:

Here are the books we talked about at the start of the episode:

- "The State and Revolution" by V.I. Lenin: https://shop.redflag.org.au/products/state-and-revolution?_pos=2&_psq=state%20and%20&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=34797667581997 

- "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver

- "Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike" by Barbara Kingsolver

- Georgy Plekhanov on Marxism and Philosophy: "The Development of the Monist View of History" https://www.marxists.org/archive/plekhanov/1895/monist/index.htm