"What is the state?" — 1/5 in The state, crime, prisons and the police

"What is the state?" an introduction by Matt Cooper. This is part of "The ABCs of Marxism" series of meetings, and also session 1 of 5 in "The state, crime, prisons and the police" series of meetings. Upcoming meetings in both series and beyond can be found at https://workersliberty.org/c19-online Part 2: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/crime-and-policing-2-of-5 Listen, download, subscribe to Workers' Liberty audio at: https://workersliberty.org/audio "'Theoretically,' there is no denying that the state is the organ of class domination, or that class antagonisms are irreconcilable. But what is forgotten or glossed over is this: if the state is the product of the irreconcilable character of class antagonisms, if it is a force standing above society and 'increasingly separating itself from it,' then it is clear that the liberation of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power, which was created by the ruling class and in which this 'separation' is embodied." Lenin one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution wrote this in The State and Revolution in 1917. Is that the only or even final word on what the state is?