ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the processes that cluster around state interventions in the socialization processes in general are decisive for the outcome and significance of individual actions. Although the importance of the state in political development and setting rules for political conduct has never been denied, there is very little discussion about the nonpolitical backstage of political socialization where the significance of the states intervention has also been steadily growing. In 1913, the European socialist parliamentary members' decision paved the way not only for World War I, but also for the giant experiment in state socialism. Rival agencies were simply eliminated from the political stage sensu stricto, while agencies considered nonpolitical were consciously weakened or punished for existing along with the state. Gloomy post-Marxist Cassandras notwithstanding, the appearance of a new class of intellectuals whose task it is to serve the state is not a foregone conclusion.
