# state as a tool of class struggle

[[Marx]] originally put forward the idea that the [[state]] was a tool of [[class struggle]]. The idea that eventually came from Marx was the idea that the [[bourgeoisie]] use the repressive nature of the state to foster [[capitalism]] and to keep workers in check.

[[Kautsky]] believed that workers could use the state to their own ends by having a party that controlled sections of the government.

[[Lenin]] and most ideological descendants of Lenin believed that the [[state]] had to be purged of all of its bourgeois elements and used against reactionary forces in order to [[transition to communism]] during a [[transition period]]. This lead to a kind of [[state socialism]].

[[Anarchists]] for the most part believe the assertion that the state is a tool of class struggle but that it cannot be wielded for the benefit of the [[proletariat]] and that it must be destroyed at first chance.