The withering away of the state: from Marx to Stalin.

Abstract

In proclaiming its self-dissolution as the goal of its existence the Communist State of the Twentieth Century is unique in history. Unlike other constitutions, especially those framed by newly-established revolutionary regimes, the first constitution of the Soviet Russian Republic, enacted in 1918, is devoid of declarations of sanctity and eternity government and states expressly that "the principal object of constitution of the R.S.F.S.R. which is adapted to the present transition period, consists in the … abolition of exploitation of man by man and the establishment of socialism, under which there shall be neither class division nor state authority.