The instrument of class rule, apparatus of violence that represents the political rule of the economically ruling class in order to maintain its class interests and fortify its dominance, composed of the standing army, police, courts, prisons, and other organs of force. Among them, the standing army is the main component and pillar of the state. The state is a machine for the oppression of one class by another, a machine for holding in obedience to one class other, subordinated classes. The state is an organ of class rule, the organ for the oppression of one class by another. The state belongs to the superstructure of society, which is determined by and serves the economic foundation…
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