Like Henry Higgins who, through his work changed the object of his studies into something other than what it was, the purpose of the Marxist theory of the state is not just to understand the capitalist state but to aid in its destruction. (Wolfe 1974: 131)

If Marxism, like feminism, is seen as ‘engaged theory’ (Bryson 1992: 1), not content merely to interpret the world but motivated by an overriding ambition to change it, then it is something of an understatement to say that the Marxist theory of the state cannot be judged a complete success.

Consequently, this chapter aims to provide an assessment of the contri­bution of Marxism to our understanding of the state whilst charting, albeit in a stylized way, the development of Marxist and neo-Marxist approaches to the study and analysis of the state from Marx and Engels, via Lenin and Gramsci, Miliband and Poulantzas to a range of contemporary authors, notably Block and Jessop. The argument unfolds in three sections. In the first we consider why it is that Marxists require a theory of the state and how Marxists have conceptualized this focus of their attention. The second section traces the development of the Marxist theory of the state through the work of the founding fathers, its reformulation by Lenin and Gramsci, and the revival of interest in Marxist state theory in the post-war period. The final section considers the contemporary development of Marxist/ neo-Marxist state theory asking whether such theories have become ever more sophisticated by becoming ever less Marxist and asking whether we need a Marxist theory of the state today.