Delegate event and viewstate

Hello,
I have a usercontrol inside an aspx page that has an event delegate.  When the button is clicked in the usercontrol, and update is made on the aspx page and then the page is updated, either by traditional posyback or updatepanel if javascript is enabled.
 
I just noticed  however that when I disabled viewstate for the usercontrol the delegate stopped working.  Is viewstate a pre-requisite?  Are there any work rounds for this or is that it?
 
Thanks in advance.
 
John
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