p The state of any exploiting society (slave-owning, feudal, or capitalist) is designed to protect the interests of the ruling class both within the country, in relations with other classes, and outside, in relations with other states. There are therefore two main trends or functions in the activities of a state: internal and external. The internal function is the main one and it determines all the foreign affairs of a state.

p Let us examine these functions.

p The internal function of an exploiting state is to suppress the working people, to subordinate them to the small group of oppressors. This reflects the class nature of the state and is expressed in its internal policy, the struggle against the oppressed classes. Economic compulsion alone, which the exploiters can apply owing to their monopoly over the means of production, is not enough to win this struggle. They need a special political machine of coercion, the exploiting state.

p The first exploiting state was the slave-owning state. It was succeeded by the feudal state, which in turn was 284 superseded by the capitalist state. In spite of certain differences, all the three had one task in common: to keep the people in check and to crush any attempt of the working people to emancipate themselves from exploitation.

p The slave-owning state used armed force to put down the slaves who rose against their masters. The feudal state forcibly bound the peasants to the landlord’s estate and cruelly punished those who refused to toil for the landlord. The numerous peasant uprisings ended in blood baths. The capitalist state, although it likes to parade in democratic garb, is also a machine for the subjection of the working people. Its real purpose is to protect private capitalist property, maintain wage-slavery and crush the revolutionary movement of the proletariat.

The external function of the exploiting state is to seize foreign territories or defend its own land from attack. This is reflected in its relations with other states and is expressed in its foreign policy. Foreign policy stems from home policy and is a continuation of the latter. The reactionary, predatory foreign policy of contemporary imperialism is a natural supplement to its home policy of suppressing the working class and all other progressive forces.