KARACHI: As a part of philosopher Karl Marx’s bicentenary celebrations a lecture on the topic of the ‘Changing nature of ideological basis of Pakistani state: a Marxist interpretation’ was delivered by Prof Dr Riaz Ahmed Sheikh, dean, Faculty of Social Sciences at Szabist, at the Workers’ Hall of Progressive Writers Association on Saturday.

“It was Marx’s belief that there were several exploitative institutions within a state, and a class society gave way to a state,” said Sheikh. “But what kind of a state? What was its nature?” He asked, going on to explain that the state was like a tool of society. Then he asked what kind of a part did the state play in an exploitative society. To answer his own queries he said that playing its role internally the state suppressed the voices of the people, controlled freewill, freedom of expression and as its external role it tried controlling the weaker or smaller states. “This is the exploitative character of the state,” he explained.

But there is also a kind of state which becomes a ‘committee’ to look after the interests of its people. It will use its resources for the betterment of the people. So looking at the exploitative state, Marx says that it will eventually wither away, but not if it becomes a people’s state. “This was his idea of an alternate state,” said Sheikh.

“The debate was taken forward by Lenin. It is a classical discourse which sees the bringing on of the Russian Revolution,” he said. And since a socialist state doesn’t control weaker states or colonise them, the Baltic states taken over by Russia at the time of the Revolution were given the choice to go their separate ways or willingly become a part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

“Globally, too, things started changing. Social influence caused several international developments. There was also a new debate then of a mix kind of an economy with not a complete or full socialist system where there was a public policy in place. Many economies changed with concepts such as minimum wages, voting rights for women, etc. This was how the influence of a socialist state gave way to the capitalist state,” he pointed out.

Then speaking about another theory derived from Marx’s theories, he said that the state could be an oppressor and it can be an ideological state. “Then its exploitative nature becomes even worse and more dangerous. For power and control, the state develops some institutions such as law enforcement agencies, courts and the like which play their role in control over the people,” he said, adding that this theory was linked to today’s Pakistan.

“It is interesting to note how the state works cleverly to control the institution of education to control its people. The state also controls religious institutions, putting moral duties on them. It can also control arts and culture, literature too,” Sheikh said.

“The media is also one of the three pillars of the state. But it wasn’t so in Marx’s time. So things have moved ahead. From the media, it has now gone to social media bringing us to the concept of bio-politics where the state wants to control each of its citizen’s both mentally and physically,” he said. “The missing persons in Pakistan are one example of this,” he pointed out.

“This is where the state presents to you the idea of the ideal citizen to decrease things as freedom of expression,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2018