What do you believe a state is? How does it function, and how does it run?

This is what I’m trying to understand. I’ve been educated in the belief that the state was a true democracy, and that the population was in indirect control of it by the vote.

The state is not a neutral body to be taken over and commanded like a mindless tool.

Do you have any resources to suggest that might help me understand this in practical terms? I read The State and Revolution but I still don’t get it.

The Nazi party grew from killing labor organizers and communists, and was installed against the will of the people.

This sounds more like a coup from the Nazis than from the bourgeoisie. How did they push them into power?

The capitalist state army is not a mindless drone that sides directly with whoever is in charge of the state. It sides with capital. Allende was coup’ed by the Chilean military.

I need to learn more about Allende history, but why is that? What makes the military defend capital, not the government?

you do not see that the state is reliant upon and reinforced by the mode of production

No I don’t. I don’t see what would concretely prevent the state from turning against the bourgeoisie.

Because capitalists control the commanding heights of the economy, they control the state, and can rip away the illusion of bourgeois democracy at any time they wish, essentially implementing fascism.

How would it materialize concretely in a western social democracy country?

The capitalist state is a state for capitalism, it isn’t a neutral state that can be swapped piece by piece.

Yes, as I said, I’m not talking about reformism, but the party completely replacing the state by the dictatorship of the proletariat, just like a revolution, but from the inside.

A Marxist party cannot expropriate the bourgeoisie through decree, it must come through force

Why couldn’t they do both? Pass the law, and seize the means of production using the state army and the armed workers.

It would make sense if, thanks to this propaganda, people actually enjoyed good living conditions. But when they barely have enough to survive—even in Western countries—how could they not question the system and realize that capitalism is total crap?

Yes, but what makes this propaganda so effective? Is it because people lack critical thinking, or knowledge about capitalism/imperialism/communism? What would it take to enable people to form their own opinions?

OK, but what makes propaganda so effective? Is it because people lack critical thinking, or knowledge about capitalism/imperialism/communism?

OK, but why is that? What makes propaganda so effective? Is it because people lack critical thinking, or knowledge about capitalism/imperialism/communism?

Thank you for your great answer again.

In my experience, many people simply want the government to improve their living conditions—whether through higher wages or lower prices. In other words, they seek to improve capitalism rather than replace the economic system entirely with something better. You are right: most Western proletarians do not actively challenge their state’s imperialist stance. But even so, why don’t they want to nationalize their largest corporations, instead of just raising their tax for example?

Thank you for your answer.

For the West, I understand your point, even though there is still a large portion of the population that barely earns enough to live decently. In my country, this mainly affects the younger generation and single parents. However, they blame the government more than capitalism, which I don’t understand.