Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Mar 3, 2008, at 12:37 PM, Paul Papadeas wrote:
>
> > But what ultimately is Socialism for the 21st century? Wouldn't
> > this also include the ability to allow everyday people to control
> > their own destinies outside of the need for government mediation?
> > To fall into a stateless situation?
> >
> > Is this merely a pipe dream - even for the long term future?
>
> How can we possibly tell that now? We have no idea what would happen
> over the long term as a result of the struggles that people engage in
> in the short and medium term.
In any case, it is necessary to distinguish government and state. Government will always be necessary AND disirable. Whether the state will in fact disappear in the future cannot be known or even intelligently debated, but _the_ concept of the stateless society is an essential tool for understanding the pesent.
Carrol