> Arguments about to what extent the capitalist class rule by political
> repression miss the point. The ruling class do not need political
> dictatorship, they rule via economic dictatorship.
Yes, we've definitely seen over the last few days how the ruling class doesn't need "political" repression.
But--and I should have made my point clearer--this division is totally specious. The economic dictatorship can't exist without the state dictatorship, to use your terms. I think Chomsky's point about the Marines is a good one, but it treats the moments and the spheres as discrete, temporally and spatially. In exceptional cases, things do work that way, but that's not how daily life is structured.
I know this is tedious stuff, so I'll stop.