Autonomy or heteronomy of the State? An enquiry on the political theory of “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte” by Karl Marx

The nature and the role of political institutions is a controversial matter in Marxism. The classical definition of the Manifesto (the State as a committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie) clashes with the one of Marx’s “historical works”, where he describes the birth of the Second French Empire as a process of progressive gaining of independence (Verselbstständigung) of the political sphere from the civil one. If this heterodox interpretation gives him the opportunity to reject the contraposition between “structure” and “superstructure”, a problematic theoretical position arises. In this paper I present an overview of the theory of politics in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, aimed at explaining how and why we find such a “strange” definition of the nature of the State. On this basis, I will emphasize the richness of the Marxian interpretation and its significance for the Marxist debate in 20th century