re constructed. Lenin by equating the form of government and the economic base provided a simplistic explanation of economism. Therefore parliamentary democracy is the form of government for competitive capitalism, the bureaucratic-military state arises with monopoly capitalism, and socialism replaces these with the dictatorship of the proletariat, or communism. For the Marxist, the government is the tool of the dominant economic power of society. This follows since the state is the "executive committee of the ruling class".
In the contemporary United States applying economism's dictates would result in the finding that the corporations of America have identical interests to the government. The expansion of the nation's corporations to multinational status has meant a furthering of the interests of the United States abroad. The state is able to increase its power through these corporations. The richer and more powerful these multinational corporations become, the more these same riches and power return to the United States. In truth, the goals of corporations are not always equal to the goals of the government. The relationship between the entities is complex. The corporations can influence the policies of the government but cannot control it. The government can restrict and persuade a corporation by its policies, but the government cannot coerce a corporation to comply with all policy directives. Neither of the government nor corporations are monolithic entities.
Another truism of Marxist theory on the competitive capitalistic state is that it will undergo a period of imperialism. This is not necessarily a physical occupation of territory but can be an expansion through market control. This stage is characterized by the exporting of capital not commodities. The capital is exported to less developed countries. This type of imperialism results from the concentration of capital into monopolies. This is wh...