The class conflict is reflected in the bourgeois state, which is not a neutral institution between classes. “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. ” (I; 12) “This sentence is doubtless the most succinctly aphoristic statement by Marx of his theory of the state. ” It does not say that the state is a passive puppet of the bourgeoisie; it says that its executive branch manages the bourgeoisie’s affairs. It does not deny that the state may have its own relatively autonomous interests as an institution, within its overall task of supporting capitalism.

An Anarchist Guide to The Communist Manifesto of Marx & Engels Wayne Price