The distinction between justice and goal, between the state's form of rule and its function of reproducing an economy, will be the window through which I shall view the socialist state. There are of course other perspectives, but this one clarifies a fundamental difference between the socialist state and other states. It makes clear that the conflict between justice and goal manifest in contemporary states has a different character in the socialist state. The socialist economy itself imposes limits on losses and benefits. These limits are integrated into the socialist state's pattern of justice. Moreover, since relative autonomy for the state implies a conflict between form of rule and economic functioning, there is a reduction of the autonomy of the state when it becomes a socialist state. The attenuation of the conflict between justice and goal depends, though, on the transformation of the economy from one that allows unrestricted benefits, as well as losses, to an economy that has built-in limits on benefits and losses. A pattern of justice is built into the socialist economy without having to be imposed on it by the state.

The downward spiral

The contemporary state has a tendency toward crisis due to the conflict between justice and goal. Where such a crisis is evident it will involve a process of interaction between justice and goal that weakens the state's ability to realize either one.