I use the term State to denote all the institutions of power in a community (so it includes private formations like corporations or The Family where these are confirmed by other State organs). Usually, the government would be an organ of the State, the publicly legitimated organ of overt and final force. I can conceive of _governance_ without State institutions, for example, a violent mob which temporarily gets control of a place or thing, but it seems to me that any type of permanent government, even if it began in a Stateless society, would be certain to create and gather State institutions around it, since the operations of the government would almost inevitably tend to favor the interests of some members of the community over the others, especially those participating directly and actively in the government -- everyone might be equal, but some would be more equal than others. Thus, a class system would be created. So, for me, being politically Left, that is, being of the party of freedom and equality, means opposing and seeking the abolition of both the State and the government.
Yoshie Furuhashi:
>Yes, and "alternative institutions" can't take care of safety inspections, etc.
I don't see why not. It's true that it would require a fundamentally different organization of society and a different culture, but that's what abolishing the class system requires anyway.
Gordon