Introduction

The central and the only distinctive claim of marxist political theory is that under capitalism all governments must respect and protect the essential claims of those who own the productive wealth of society. Capitalists are endowed with public power, power which no formal institutions can overcome [Luxemburg, 1970; Pashukanis, 1951]. People may have political rights, they may vote, and governments may pursue popular mandates. State managers may have interests and conceptions of their own. But the effective capacity of all governments to attain whatever goals is circumscribed by the public power of capital. The nature of political forces which control the state institutions does not alter this situation, for it is structural: a characteristic of the system, not of the occupants of governmental positions or the winners of elections.