The State and The Worker.

 BY AJAX.

"Whatever the State saith is a lie, whatever it hath is theft, all is counterfeit in it, the gnawing, sanguinary insatiate monster. It even bites with stolen teeth. Its very bowels are counterfeit." — Nietzsche.
Not without good reason did Nietzsche and other thinkers speak scornfully of the State. In this short essay one cannot enter into the history of the State. Sufficient to say the State (so-called) is here, and having since the war interfered to a large extent with the liberties of individuals and associations of workers it is well to understand the significance of this metaphysical entity called the State. In the past we have heard much about State control, church and State, the necessity of a military, political, or industrial State, as the case may be; but the most significant fact is that all those who arrogate to themselves certain powers and functions as servants of the State fail to explain who and what the State really is. In the schools (which are mostly State-controlled) the children are taught to believe that the State is a sort of paternal father who watches over the interests of society and does everything for the best. This false idea is reflected in the political institutions of to-day where such ideas as "obedience and duty to the State," "the necessity of supporting the State, in everything," "the infallibility of statesmen," and similar theories which have for their object the inculcating of slavish subservience to this fetish of authority called the State. Like God, the State defies reason, the more we examine this nonentity the more nebulous and visionary the State appears. Shorn of its glitter and fine phrases, the State stands unmasked as a metaphysical abstraction, a mere jingo swindle, a political bogey whose only justification is that it is in the interests of rulers to keep the people looking up to some higher authority. As the vision of Christ and the saints in Glory, benignly watching over us, loses its force, and is fading from the imagination of the people, a new fetish of authority becomes an economic necessity to the rich. The ignorant who look to political Messiahs to do something for them are obsessed by the idea of the political State which, even if it existed, has had to give way to the industrial State.
The two States, however, differ in aims and expression. The political State aims at perpetuating competition and bourgeois institutions. The new force, the industrial State, seeks to keep pace with machine production and scientific exploitation. While the adherents of the former shriek about trust busting and regulating the economic system by law, the latter, led by the captains of industry, is busy on the job and is out for industrial supremacy. In advanced countries the squabble for power between the two States is practically over in every case; the industrial State being victorious, thus fulfilling Marx's prophecy of industrial consolidation and the growth of the trust. This bickering between sections of the exploiting class does not abate one iota the hostility of rulers to the workers ; these political wrangles are really only the quarrels of thieves over the wealth they have stolen from the proletariat. The State does not represent society, but only tries to administer things in the interests of the ruling minority. This can only be done by oppressing the workers. The economic system or capitalism requires a servile poverty-stricken populace to maintain itself. Unless this state of affairs is maintained, soldiers, prostitutes, child slaves, and others who perforce do the dirty work of capitalism could not be obtained in sufficient quantities to cope with the fearful waste and special emergencies of employers. Statists try hard to blind us to this fact, and point to the long list of laws which were supposed to benefit the worker. Unfortunately, those who have studied history know that most of these laws were passed in the interests of the exploiters and the few laws of any benefit to the workers were made only when the militancy of the mass forced the hands of Statesmen.
The class state, irrespective of its form of expression, takes by force and only gives way before force. The State knows no sentiment, no law or rule for itself. It keeps no promise when inconvenient to do so. It is out for exploitation and oppression of the workers; this is the purpose for which the State exists. The State in all its actions is animated with "the will to oppress," and the end—exploitation — justifies the means.
This attitude explains why the State allows many social evils to exist and takes so serious steps to cope with the evils. Any drastic effort to put down vice or sweating would damage the economic interests of those the State represents. For instance, in some countries the government has taken generations to wake up to the fact that drunkenness is a social evil, it is only when military and industrial efficiency are impaired that legislation supposed to cure the malady is enacted. The State assiduously cultivates idolatry in Bill its forms as a useful adjunct to exploitation. It is for this reason that sacerdotal institutions are patronised and privileged at law. Quackery and charlatanism are for State reasons upheld, for the State is not only concerned to perpetuate class rule, but also to keep back the scientific knowledge from the people. The growth of intellect is the greatest menace to the State, therefore any political nostrum that will keep back the wolves of Socialism, Syndicalism and Anarchism is countenanced.
Some workers denounce the church, others rail at parliament, while another section is up against militarism; but the point we fail to see clearly is that all established institutions are adjuncts to the scheme of exploitation which is centred and functions in and through the medium of the State. All the political changes, religious wrangles, and military differences are incidental; the State harmonises these squabbles as far as possible, and is only interested in exploitation. Under the paternalism of the State we have a state of society implying anarchy at law for the rich and injustice for the poor. Economically, we observe a form of socialism for the favoured few at the expense of the many. Industrially, the capitalists are fast amalgamating into one big union, while the flunkeys of the class state, from platform, press and pulpit, endeavour to educate people in the opposite direction.
The State and all that it stands for is of no use to the worker. The life of the State is not essential to the workers, thought statists try hard to justify its existence because the worker is essential to the State. Labor has but to stop production or refuse to recognise the State's authority to cause the whole machinery of exploitation and domination, built upon the metaphysical idea of the State, to crumple up, and government cannot function. The class state always was and ever will be hostile to the workers, for its economic interests force it to endeavour to keep the masses in that state in which it has pleased plutocracy in its wickedness and greed to ordain. Indeed, of late, the activities of the State threaten us with a worse form of oppression than has been known before. Such catch-cries as "National Service," "Industrial Efficiency," "Military Necessity," and so forth show clearly that the aim of statists is the supremacy of "the servile state," a combination of the worst features of the military, financial and industrial state, a monstrosity that the workers will have to beware of.

Direct Action (Sydney, NSW : 1914 - 1930), Saturday 10 June 1916, page 3