Only correcting a mistake made by you.
> First we get hair splitting about Marx's
> conception of the state--and yes, I know the expression about
> withering is
> Engels. But Marx said in the Manifesto that the first stages of the
> revolution would involve concentrastion of the means of production in the
> hands of the state, etc., and I don't think he;d changed his mind by the
> Gotha Program.
Yes, so what is your point here? Nothing about a state in communism, if that's what you mean.
> Likewise, he was interested inthe coercive aspects of the
> state: see, e,g, his treatment of the Commune. He had a deeper view than
> Engels, seeing the state as an expression of alienation, etc. But
> the point
> is, he didn't understand the other things the state does, or didn't care
> about them.
> Lenin did--and anyone who knows me wuld laugh out loud at the
> idea that a liberal democrat like myself is of a "Leninist disposition."
> Right, Charles?
I didn't say *you* had a Leninist disposition; your liberalism is only too apparent.
> That's why I
> don;t say I'm a Marxist.
No, but you repeatedly make pronouncements on Marxism (here and on SPSM). You must expect people to pull you up when you don't know what you are talking about.
>I'll leave the Old Time Religion to you.
Liberal irregular verbs: I am reasonable, he is religious, they are fundamentalist.
-- Lew