The State in capitalist society Book

Finally! I first came across this book in the early 2000s when I got into Marxist state theory, including the Poulantzas-Miliband debate but felt (ignorantly, pretentiously) I was 'team Poulantzas' lol and didn't bother. I have always been good at picking sides in battles I don't really understand.

Around the same time, especially after the 2008 global financial crisis there has been a significant interest in theories of the state in capitalism and the 'capitalist state' and the limits of the state's reform efforts to counteract capitalism's inherent contradictions, such as economic growth that leads to increased impoverishment of the many.

Miliband's classic 'The State in Capitalist Society' from 1969, written over five years and finalized about a decade before neoliberalism directly challenged the post-war welfare state, showed even then that the great post-war compromise 'new deal' only strengthened capitalism and could not fundamentally influence capitalism's structural contradictions. This of course allowed neoliberalism to present itself as a savior of capitalism, by then referred to by all political actors as 'the economy' since social democracy did not have an answer from the left, ie a programme to overcome rather than 'fix' capitalism. When Thatcher was asked in the 1990s what her greatest achievement was, she reportedly said 'New Labour' - when her mantra of 'there is no alternative' become reality.

It would take another 40 years until the emergence of a 21st century democratic socialist left with the election of Corbyn as the leader of the UK Labour party, the rise of Bernie during the 2016 Democratic primary elections and the election of socialist Representives in the 2018 US mid-term elections, such as AOC, which also made the question of the state in capitalism one of acute importance.

In 2009 a new edition of Miliband's classic from 1969 was printed with a great foreword by Leo Panitch, one of Miliband's students at LSE in the 1960s. In the foreword, Panitch also reflects on the Obama administration and how come that 'progressive' governments end up appointing hardcore neoliberals 'Government Sachs' to deal with an economic crisis caused by their own very model (...).

Then this year, it was the 50th anniversary of Miliband's book with a lot of coverage in the Jacobin and I realized how incredibly timely this book is and how important it is to understand the nature and role of the state in capitalism.

Because if and when Corbyn and Bernie or ant other socialists in advanced capitalist countries 'take over', they will still have to administer a capitalist economy and operate within a deeply capitalist state. I think Labour under Corbyn, especially McDonnell, have developed the most advanced strategy on how to transform (not reform!) the state, economy and society from within - learning also from the failures of the new deal and the structural pressures and limits from the capitalist state itself, despite a potebtial socialist government.

Miliband's 'the state in capitalist society' is sometimes referred to as one of the most important books in political science and sociology since WW2. I can see why and glad I finally read it, now where we may have an opening to find a progressive answer to capitalism's crisis (with the neoliberal solution nearly off the table, the 'transformation' will come either from the left or the far right/ fascists. The sooner centrists understand the current juncture, the better).

In his foreword Panitch also makes clear that it's possible to be both team Poulantzas and Milband! I think we also no longer have the luxury to engage in those academic debates and split into endless factions based on minor theoretical differences. Both Poulantzas and Miliband sought to contribute to socialist strategies, including through transforming the state in capitalist society/ capitalist state into a democratic socialist one. This remains the common goal and we were nowhere closer to this than in 2019.