I don't understand why we need Flux with React as React itself let's us maintain the state of the application. Every component has an initial state and the state can be changed by user actions or any other asynchronous JavaScript.
Why is React called as only a view library when it can let's us define state of the application and also update view whenever state changes. This is not what a view does....its what complete MVC does right?
For example: here is an Todo app build only with React and here is an Todo app build with Flux and React.
If we can build the Todo app with React only then why do we need Flux?
You don't NEED Flux the same you don't need MVC. They are both architectures and you can of course build something without using either.
Would you build a non-MVC app in 2016? Probably not, that doesn't mean that people didn't do it in the past.
Flux is awesome! But as most things in the tech industry is not always the right decision, things vary in a project requirement basis.
Probably the biggest selling point of Flux is that it tries to enforce the data flow in one direction, this means that you know for sure where the data is coming from. In a non-flux app the data for a component could be an own property, a property passed down the component tree, a local state variable, a state variable result of calling an API.
With Flux: "where does the data come from?". Answer: from the stores. Redux takes this further and only uses a single store.
Flux has been criticized because you need a lot of boilerplate code but again is a matter of tradeoffs.
At the end is always your call depending on your project needs.