MARXIST THEORY OF LAW LAW
Christian Arbiol Andrei Maghirang John Cedric Coon
Ral!h "ei!arine Introd#ction Karl Marx views the notion of Marxist Law from the following perspective, “Law, morality, religion, are to [the proletariat] so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lur in ambush just as many bourgeois interests!" #he assumptions basic to Marxist legal theory$%rst, that God does not exist & and second, that humans are evolving animals$deny both the possibility of an absolute moral code and the existence of any law grounded in any authority other than human authority! '! (! Lenin says, “In what sense do we repudiate ethics and morality? ...In the sense in which it was preached by the bourgeoisie, who derived ethics from God’s commandments. We, of course, say that we do not believe in God!" L!)! *awitsch, a modern+day Marxist legal theorist, maintains Lenins denial of anything supernatural, saying, “#here are no eternal, immutable principles of law!" #herefore, Marxist law cannot be based on anything other than human rationality! (n Lenins words, “-e repudiate all morality taen apart from human society and classes!"
$asic In%oration on &arl Mar' Karl Marx was a philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist! .orn in /russia, he later became stateless and spent much of his life in London! Marx0s wor in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labor and its relation to capital, and subse1uent economic thought! 2e published numerous boos during his lifetime, the most notable being The ommunist !anifesto 345657 and "as #apital 34589:45;67! .orn into a wealthy middle+class family in #rier in the /russian erman intellectuals7! ?fter his studies he wrote for the
Marx0s theories about society, economics and politics$the collective understanding of which is nown as Marxism$hold that human societies progress through class struggleE a conFict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed laboring class that provides the labor for production! )tates, Marx believed, were run on behalf of the ruling class and in their interest while representing it as the common interest of all& and he predicted that, lie previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self+destruction and replacement by a new systemE socialism! 2e argued that class antagonisms under capitalism between the bourgeoisie and proletariat would eventuate in the woring class0 con1uest of political power and eventually establish a classless society, communism, a society governed by a free association of producers! Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the woring class should carry out organiGed revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio+economic change!
Mar'ist La( ) The Origin o% La( Marxists explain that law and human rights arise from the interactions of human beings within social structures that contain economic class distinctions! Alass divisions within societies create conFict and disorder and therefore law 3and the state7 comes into existence to deal with this conFict! ?ccording to #AM co+author Criedrich Dngels, $In order that these...classes with con%icting economic interests, may not annihilate themselves and society in a useless struggle, a power becomes necessary that stands apparently above society and has the function of &eeping down the con%icts and maintaining 'order.’ (nd this power, the outgrowth of society, but assuming supremacy over it and becoming more and more divorced from it, is the )tate.* #he )tate that rises to maintain order within society perpetuates the conFict as a dominant class wielding power over classes with less power! )oviet leader 'ladimir Lenin explains, $The )tate is an organ of class domination, an organ of oppression of one class by another+ its aim is the creation of 'order’ which legalies and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the collisions between the classes.* Laws are thus imposed by the state to 1uell these disturbances! Hnce the revolution of the proletariat has succeeded, the new Marxist Law 3)ocialistic Law7 will reFect the desires of the woring people rather than those of the bourgeoisie! Law based on the will of the proletariat will create a society that is less exploitative than that based on capitalist bourgeois law! ?ccording to theorist L!)! *awitsch, $(n anti-exploiter tendency is what characteries the special features of all the principles of the law of socialist society in most concentrated form.* #he will of the proletariat becomes the basis for all rights, laws, and judgments, thereby negating natural law, >od, or any absolute moral code! Marxist philosopher
2oward )elsam explains, $!arxism, which has been so often accused of see&ing to eliminate moral considerations from human life and history emphasies rather the moral issues involved in every situation. It does so, however, not by standing on a false platform of absolute right, but by identifying itself with the real needs and interests of the wor&ers and farmers.* Marxists see law based on the will of the proletariat as Fexible rather than inconsistent, a Fexibility that denies a need for a comprehensive legal system! D!.! /ashuanis writes, $We reuire that our legislation possess maximum elasticity. We cannot fetter ourselves by any sort of system.*
Mar'ist La(* La( Withers A(a+ Marxists believe law arises from class conFicts caused by property& the need for law itself will dissolve once a communist society is established! )ince only one class 3the proletariat7 will then exist, the need to promote order between classes will no longer remain$in eIect law will have become unnecessary! (n the highest stage of communist society, after the subordination to the division of labor, which maes man a slave, shall have disappeared, and therewith the contrast between intellectual labor and physical labor& when labor shall have ceased to be merely a means of sustaining life and shall have itself become the %rst demand of life& when the comprehensive development of individuals shall have been accompanied by a growth of the production forces also and the springs of social wealth shall pour forth a full Fow$only then can the narrow horiGon of bourgeois law be completely overcome, and only then will society inscribe on its banner& each according to his capacities, and to each according to his needs! Aommunist society is the highest phase of the development of human society! (ncreased production forces create such an abundance of products as permits the complete assurance of all the re1uirements of all the members of society! Alass disappearances %nally disappear! Marxists believe that when classes are abolished, all people will create and live in an environment that promotes harmony! Ariminal activity will be almost nonexistent since the catalysts for anti+social activity$ injustice and ine1uality$will no longer exist! /lamenatG says that in a communist society crime will be “virtually unnown" because “motives will be less urgent and fre1uent, and the oIender will be more easily brought to his senses by the need to regain the good opinion of his neighbors!
The Co#nist Mani%esto
The ommunist !anifesto was one of the important documents that Karl Marx and Criedrich Dngels published! 2e became well nown because of this wor! (n this document, Marx states that the law of .ourgeois was only a mere reFection of the greed of that class! 2e said that $/01our 2urisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all, a will, whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of existence of your class.* 2e was critical with the .ourgeois Law which he believes was very oppressive as it was based on the privatiGation of property! #he nature of the law itself was for the promotion of une1ual rights! $( will, whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of existence of your class 3 The sel4sh misconception that induces you to transform into eternal laws of nature and of reason, the social forms springing from your present mode of production and form of property5this misconception you share with every ruling class that has preceded you.*
#he law being favorable to one class, speci%cally the capitalists, led to the development of a Aapitalist )ociety in which the society itself is more accountable for the lawlessness, rather than the individual citiGens! ?ccording to Dngels $The contempt for the existing social order is most conspicuous in its extreme form -that of o6ences against the law.* (n other words, those who commit crimes do not feel any sense of remorse for their actions because they feel as though they have no other choice but to revolt! #he solution, according to Marx and Dngels, is to allow the woring class to mae the laws! (n order to achieve such an objective, the proletarians are justi%ed in breaing capitalistic law because they are acting in order to achieve e1uality!
Concl#sion (n conclusion, Karl Marx believes that law originated from conFict between the .ourgeoisie and the /roletariat& that the )tate, ostensibly to promulgate and enforce laws, become the promoter of conFict between the two major social classes& and in order to achieve the )ocialist+Aommunist society, the /roletariat must initiate a violent revolution in order to shift the balance of power from the minority .ourgeoisie to the majority /roletariat, and that once it is achieved, the new Aommunist society will promulgate laws based on the will of the /roletariat, and at the Genith of its existence, the use of law itself will be dispensed of since there will be no more class divisions and people at that point will live in total peace, harmony and e1uality, free from any form of criminality!
