> The distinguishment between that hypothetical entity and the 'state' as we know it is certainly up to debate, but I wouldn't therefore say that anarchism and communism or socialism are therefore contradictory.
How can we debate the necessity of the existence of government when we can't even decide what a government is?
We can't, really! But we try anyway. That's the nature of political and social problems: there's no specification that we can refer to to clarify our terms.
How can we debate the necessity of the existence of government when we can't even decide what a government is?