If Marxism, like feminism, is seen as ‘engaged theory’ (Bryson 1992: 1), not
content merely to interpret the world but motivated by an overriding
ambition to change it, then it is something of an understatement to say that
the Marxist theory of the state cannot be judged a complete success. Indeed,
a decade and half after the disintegration of ‘actually existing socialism’ it is
surely tempting to dismiss the Marxist theory of the state as of purely historical
interest. Yet the argument of this chapter is that, partly by virtue of its attempts
to explain capitalism’s (for its) surprising longevity, Marxist theories of the
state offer a series of powerful and probing insights into the complex and
dynamic relationship between state, economy and society in capitalist
democracies, from which other theorists of the state can learn much.