Since I last wrote on the Marxist case in favor of State Capitalism as a transitional stage between Capitalism and Socialism, I have decided to write what I consider to be the logical progression that would follow from the early establishment of State Capitalism in a proletarian democracy through to Communism.
Under State Capitalism in its early stages the State would have to hold absolute control over the direction of the economy. This would likely take the form of some kind of central planning body. This body would set production goals and prioritize distribution of goods and services to different areas. The primary goal of this central body would be the ensure that all people get the necessities of life (food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, etc.) in high enough quantities to enable them to live a secure existence. Once that goal has been achieved the State would begin to use its central planning power to increase the productive capacity of all goods and services in a effort to move society towards post-scarcity. Socialism, by its very nature, requires the existence of post-scarcity in order to thrive. Karl Marx admitted in his own writings that Socialism could only work in highly industrialized societies because of both the need for the majority of the population to be proletarian and the necessity of the economy to be able to adequately provide for the people through high productive output.
As State Capitalism wanes in its usefulness, Socialism will, as said earlier, emerge when either a post-scarcity or nearly post-scarcity society has been achieved. Under Socialism the proletariat will directly take over the management and distribution of goods and services. How exactly this would function can be only speculated because we in the present time are not anywhere near post-scarcity and do not know what such a society could even look like. Trying to envision a post-scarcity society is, for us, like a feudal lord in the 12th century trying to envision modern capitalist society. Even if we can see hints of what that new society may look like, the future will be so radically different from today that we are nothing better than fortune tellers gazing into a crystal ball. No matter the details, the primary goal of the Socialist system will be to progress society towards Communism. As society moves through post-scarcity people will realize that it is no longer necessary to accumulate goods. Because the proletariat will control distribution, overconsumption will be mitigated through societal controls. However, as we move through post-scarcity these controls will cease being necessary. People will come to understand that should they need something, they need only go and get it. Because everything will be so freely available people will eventually stop hoarding goods. Most likely such a post-scarcity society will also be so highly automated that manual labor will be virtually eliminated. This will enable people to pursue science, philosophy, art or anything else free from the constraints of wage labor. At this point society will likely have moved through Socialism and on to Communism.
Socialism, like State Capitalism, will still require the existence of the State in some form. However, the Socialist State will have a much reduced role in managing the economy or maybe even no role. The key role of the Socialist State will be preventing the reemergence of Capitalism. As the proletariat takes the reins of economic management there may be some opportunists or former capitalists that will try to use the newly decentralized economy to reestablish Capitalism even if only on a local level. The State will therefore have to act as an agent of revolution in order to protect Socialism from these opportunists. Eventually, however, economic progress and automation will be so great, and goods so readily available, that people will so no need to pay for goods and so Capitalism will have no mechanism to maintain its existence. Prices would be so low that the accumulation of wealth and capital would be impossible and serve on the purpose of personal vanity. After society moves into post-scarcity and the threat of the reemergence of Capitalism is gone the State will cease to have a true function other than providing political unity. Even in a Communist society there may be some form of central deliberative body but it would probably have little function other than to keep the people of the world united on a political level.
This whole description is, by its nature, speculative. We cannot know what the future will hold. We also cannot know how Capitalism will end. If there is not a political revolution installing a Socialist party into power then it is likely the eventually Capitalism will cease to exist naturally. As we have seen over the course of its existence, Capitalism is always seeking to increase its own productive capacity. Eventually Capitalism will have increased the industrial capabilities of society to such a point that there will be no need for people to purchase anything due to such a ready abundance of goods. Once that happens Capitalism will crumble on its own because it will lose the ability to accumulate capital in such an oversaturated economy.
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