u/--Lammergeier--

Hello everyone. I’ve long held a lot of leftist beliefs, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered those beliefs were very much in line with socialism. So, I’ve decided to start educating myself on the subject (because the U.S. education system certainly didn’t).

I’m currently reading “The State and Revolution” from Lenin, and I just read about the theory that after a revolution occurs, there will be an interim semi-state which will eventually “wither away”, removing the bureaucracy and standing military. What’s left behind would be a classless society.

Now, I’m not an expert by any means of the word, but I’m fairly confident that no socialist revolution has ever experienced this “withering away” of the interim state. Soviet Russia, for example, pretty quickly became what I’d consider a state capitalist system, and certainly didn’t just wither away and become a classless state. On the contrary, the state consolidated a huge amount of power and became a new class in and of itself.

So I guess my question is, are there any examples of states which have actually gone through this full transition of withering away, or at least attempted to?

And what reasons do y’all think could explain why these interim semi-states never withered away, but instead created new states with consolidated power? My first assumption is that capitalist states are quick to put economic and military pressure against newly formed socialist states, which then requires a strong bureaucracy and military to counteract, thus preventing the semi-state from withering. But I’m assuming there’s other reasons, both internal and external, as well.

I’m assuming “The State and Revolution” won’t cover this specific topic in more detail, since no socialist semi-state had really been formed at the time it was written. So is there further reading on this specific topic? And what do you all think about it?

Beginning to read theory has left me hopeful for the future of socialism, but it’s left me wondering how to best handle the plethora of hurdles which stand in the way of its progress. “Capital Vol 1” by Marx is next on my reading list, so hopefully more theory can help illuminate some answers!

Cheers, comrades!

Gotta protect my boy, Dubny!