> > Bill Bartlett wrote:
>> >The capitalist class is a ruling class because it has a monopoly on
>> >this economic power, not because it has a monopoly on political
>> >power.
>
>Doug Henwood wrote:
>> No state = no contracts, no money, no cops, no army. Try ruling
>> without those things.
>
>but the bourgeoisie doesn't need to actually run the government or the
>state (i.e., to govern) to get all of these things it wants and needs.
No. It hires state functionaries to take care of things. In a "democracy," the state functionaries do have to win some popular appeal, but fundamentally they must do the work of the bourgeoisie. The state has to be fundamentally theirs, though there's going to be slippage here & there.
Doug