<P> "Withering away of the state" is a Marxist concept coined by Friedrich Engels referring to the idea that, with realization of the ideals of socialism, the social institution of a state will eventually become obsolete and disappear, as the society will be able to govern itself without the state and its coercive enforcement of the law . </P> <P> The phrase was coined by Friedrich Engels in part 3, chapter 2, of Anti-Dühring: </P>

Who asserted that the state would ultimately wither away