How to create ConditionExpression for QueryExpression on statecode in early bound?

How to create ConditionExpression for QueryExpression on statecode in
early bound?

In late bound I'd use something like this to add a condition for only
getting active records.
new ConditionExpression
{
AttributeName = "statecode",
Operator = ConditionOperator.NotEqual,
Values = { SomeClass.Active }
}
But how do I express that in late bound?
Also, why does MS demand to cast it to String instead of int?
When you create a condition that compares an attribute value to an
enumeration, such as a state code, you must use the ToString method to
convert the value to a string.