ABSTRACT
A society will be called etatist if its ruling strata profess the basic tenets of traditional socialist ideology, such as the elimination of private productive property and the emancipation of the exploited classes, but revise the socialist approach in regard to one crucially important aspect: the role of the state. Socialists have traditionally viewed the state as an apparatus of repression. The spectacle of the needless misery that early capitalist accumulation inflicted on the powerless and practically outlawed working classes could not but create strong reactions. Theology, of course, implies religion of one kind or another. It may be remarked that the postrevolutionary ruling parties have not been religiously oriented but, on the contrary, are atheist. A special feature of a religious environment is extreme hypertrophy of punitive law. In an etatist setting, the Devil is called the Enemy.
