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p The state appeared with the rise of classes; with the disappearance of classes it will necessarily wither away. The time will come, Engels wrote, when society will send the state to where it belongs—the museum of antiquities, alongside the spinning wheel and the bronze axe.

p When will the process of the withering away of the state begin? In the period of the proletarian dictatorship or during the gradual transition to communism?

p It is a fact that the proletarian dictatorship contains some of the prerequisites for the withering away of the state. In societies with antagonistic classes the state has 289 always been a weapon of politics, of the political supremacy of the minority over the majority, but the proletarian dictatorship, on the other hand, gives rise to the first state in which tremendous importance is attached to economic development, to economic policy. “Usually,” Lenin wrote, “the word ’administration’ is associated primarily with activities which are mainly or even exclusively political. Yet the very foundation and the very essence of Soviet power as well as the essence of the transition from capitalist to socialist society is that political tasks are subordinated to economic tasks.”

p It was not accidental that Marx, Engels and Lenin characterised the socialist state from its very beginning as a “semi-state”, as a transitional form from the state in the proper meaning of the term to a “non-state”.

p Naturally, this does not mean that the state of the proletarian dictatorship is a withering state. In addition to the seizure of political power, the working class is confronted with the immensely important and difficult task of building a socialist society. This task cannot be carried out without statehood, without the political suppression of the deposed exploiting classes, without a state organisation and administration of economic, political and cultural affairs.

p Still more difficult and diverse tasks arise in the period of communist construction. Communism, as we have already said, is the result of conscious creative work by the people, of their dedicated labour and selfless struggle. But the creative efforts of the people must be united, organised and directed towards the attainment of a single goal. The socialist state led by the Communist Party is the force organising the building of the new society. Hence the need for the socialist state throughout the period of communist construction and the need for its steady development and improvement. The state, Lenin wrote, will be needed “until victorious socialism develops into full communism”.  [289•* 

p However, in the period of communist construction the state is more of a “semi-state” than a state of the transition period. No longer a weapon for the political suppression of the exploiters, it is a political organisation called upon to 290 direct economic, social and cultural affairs in a society building communism. The socialist state takes an important step from stale administration to public sell-administration. As is stated in the Programme of the C.P.S.U., as socialist statehood develops, it will gradually become communist self-government.

p Will the absence of a state in developed communist society not lead to disorder, disorganisation and anarchy?

p No, there will not be anarchy or disorganisation in communist society. It will be founded on discipline and organisation. But this will not be discipline and organisation by compulsion. It will be conscious discipline resting on a lofty sense of dignity in every citizen, on his consciousness of his place and purpose in society, on his habit to work for the benefit of society and abide by the rules of communist human association.

p Under communism versatile production and social life will go hand in hand with strict order and a unity of will directing the efforts of millions of people towards a single objective. It is difficult to say how society will be administered in the future, but if we take into consideration the fact that this will be administration by polilically conscious, disciplined people, one can expect that it will be “like the mild leadership of a conductor”.  [290•* 

p The function of administration of society, like the function of leadership of the country’s economic, social and cultural life, which is at present fulfilled by the state, will remain under communism as well. Moreover, it develops and improves with the development of society. However, the nature and methods of the administration of society will be different in communist society than under socialism. With the eradication of class distinctions in the process of the movement towards communism, organs of state administration gradually lose their political class character. With the disappearance of classes in communist society, they will, in the long run, merge with mass organisations and become organs of public self-administration, through which all citizens will participate in the administration of social affairs. The state will wither away and with it the specific apparatus of administration and the profession of 291 civil servant will disappear and every citizen will devote part of his time to directing social affairs.

p Of course, the wilhering away of the state must not be taken to mean a simple, sudden act. It is a gradual, prolonged process embracing an entire epoch. Throughout a certain span of time state administration and public selfadministration will coexist and intertwine, and the need for the state will fall away only when society is fully mature for self-administration, i.e., under conditions of complete communism. “The slate,” Lenin wrote, “will be able to wither away completely when society adopts the rule: ’From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’, i.e., when people have become so accustomed to observing the fundamental rules of social intercourse and when their labour has become so productive that they will voluntarily work according to their ability."  [291•* 

p Completion of the building of communism is the inner condition for the withering away of the state. However, external conditions are also needed, namely, the victory and consolidation of socialism on the international scene. When we speak of the withering away of the state, we must take the international situation into consideration. If communism triumphs in one or another country or in one group of countries or another and armed capitalist vultures remain in the world, the state function of defending the country will be preserved. This function will die away only when the threat of attack by reactionary imperialist powers ceases to exist. This will be achieved only with the complete abolition of capitalism on a world-wide scale.

Thus, the building of communism witnesses a gradual transformation of state administration into public selfadministration, a process directly linked up with the further improvement of the state apparatus and with the unswerving extension and improvement of socialist democracy.