The public and the state are distinct concepts that must not be conflated.

Evidence

It’s just the idea of taking over the state, in a way, in the classic style of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, etc. — even if you could do that, that wouldn’t achieve the overthrow of capitalism anyway, partly because capitalism is a global phenomenon. It itself is in the position I say — it subordinates the state. It doesn’t have to takeover the state directly. Partly what I was thinking there is that we want to differentiate ourselves from being old style statists. This is again part of this neoliberal binary where they’re for a small state, we’re for a big state. I think we need to first distinguish the concept of the public from the concept of the state. The two aren’t the same — the state facilitates public space, but is not the same as the public. The public interest is not synonymous with the kind of will of the state. Partly the importance of this move is to differentiate us from the caricature of the old left. But at the same time it’s important not to go down a certain kind of anarchist route where you’re denying the importance of the state at all. The state quite clearly retains a massive significance. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2183

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader left-strategy debates about statism vs. horizontality, and to Fisher’s own capitalism-as-subordinator-of-the-state thesis elsewhere in k-punk. — connects to: The State includes private hegemonic apparatuses, not just government — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 970; The people is constituted politically, not given sociologically. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 443; Contention is political only when claims are public and governmental — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 131 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The State includes private hegemonic apparatuses, not just government #expands (0.82) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 970
• The state includes the private apparatus of hegemony beyond government #expands (0.82)
• Ruling classes rule through class-neutral state structures, not in their own name. #expands (0.80) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 909
• The people is constituted politically, not given sociologically. #corroborates (0.78) — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 443
• The state is constituted by power, not merely an instrument that wields it #expands (0.77) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 9
• Contention is political only when claims are public and governmental #qualifies (0.76) — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 131