Chapter V, §1 — Studying a Future Society Through Its Origins

V. I. Lenin · The State and Revolution

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Section summary

Lenin brings Marx's Critique of the Gotha Programme into the discussion to ask what conditions could make the state unnecessary. He rejects an apparent contradiction between Engels's criticism of state language and Marx's question about future social functions. The two writers, in his interpretation, address different aspects of a process rather than disagreeing over the permanent preservation of a state.

The method is to analyse a new society as emerging from capitalism, carrying inherited limitations while developing beyond them. That rules out both a detailed invented utopia and the assumption that every feature of the future is unknowable. It also separates the variety of present political constitutions from the capitalist social relations many of them share. The question becomes which functions persist during transformation, why they persist, and what changes would make their political character disappear. A declaration of a new social order is not treated as sufficient evidence that the process is complete.

Key claims

Lenin reads Marx and Engels as discussing different aspects of the state's historical transformation.
The proposed future society must be analysed through the conditions inherited from capitalism.
A transition has distinct social functions and cannot be reduced to a change in political terminology.

Pause & reflect

For discussion

Use these questions for individual reflection or a study circle. Return to the passage to support your answer.

What produces the apparent disagreement between Marx and Engels, and how does Lenin resolve it?
Which inherited conditions could survive a change in property ownership or political rule?
How can an argument about the future avoid both arbitrary speculation and refusal to draw any conclusions at all?

Terms in context

Critique of the Gotha Programme: Marx's 1875 criticism of a German socialist programme, used here for its account of transition and communist development.
historical development: An approach that explains social forms through their origins, contradictions, and changes rather than fixed definitions alone.
social function: An activity needed to organise common life, whose institutional form and coercive character may change.

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