On this Overtime episode, the first in a series, John, Lina, and Dan take some time to dig into the fundamentals behind our understandings of the nature of the state: what it is, its historical development, how it functions, and how it can be changed. During this first part of our discussion, Dan takes us through the theoretical work and historical analysis on the state by Marx, Engels, and Lenin, how they defined the state, how they foresaw it being abolished in the future, and how we could get from where we are under the domination of the capitalist ruling class, to a real democracy where workers would have state power instead of a tiny rich ruling class. We talk about how their theories apply today, how we see their historical materialist analysis reflected in the US state today, and why their theories remain vital for workers struggles for control of their own lives.

In the next episode(s) in this series, John will bring in analysis of the state from the Anarchist perspective, and we will take a look at how later theorists like Gramsci and Althusser expand on these concepts based on modern historical developments.

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