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| Karl Marx |
Marxist Theory of Law
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Both of them are considered to be the founders of the
greatest social and political movement which began in 19th century and
flourished in 20th century as a political philosophy in Eastern Europe which is
the erstwhile Soviet Union and influenced all the decolonized colonies of the
world. Tenets of their ideology are practised in China’s Political Philosophy.
Marx’s view of state and law was co-terminus with the
understanding of society and social process. Marx’s originality of thought lies
in the fact that he synthesized almost entire philosophical thought from
Aristotle to Hegel.
The sociological understanding of the society led Marx to
pronounce that the desired system should be a Communist Society based on
rational planning, co-operative production and equality of distribution and most
importantly, liberated from all forms of political and bureaucratic hierarchy.
Marx condemned and rejected the state and money as Bourgeois
concept. He believed that the proletariat has a historical mission of
emancipating the society as a whole. For him, law seemed to be nothing more than
a function of economy without any independent existence.
Following is his classification of society into various
classes:
1. The capitalists
2. The Wage Labourers
3. The land owners
He said that the conflict between various classes of the
society will eventually have to be resolved. The resolution of the conflict
will take place in the shape of a Proletarian revolution. Once this revolution
takes place, it will seize the power of the state and transform the means of
production in the first instance into State property. The earlier state of
exploitation and representative of class antagonism will be replaced by a state
truly representative of society as a whole which means taking possession of
means of production in the name of society. This would be at the same the last
independent act of the State.
The interference of the State in social relations becomes
superfluous in one’s sphere after a point of time and then ceases off itself.
The government of persons is to be replaced by a different administration that
would direct the process of production. However, the Proletarian revolution in
order to reach the stage of Communism shall have to pass through various
stages.
1. Establishment of a Proletarian Dictatorship which is
essential to convert the capitalist modes of production into the Proletariat
mode of production.
2. Stage of Nationalization of the property and all the
capital modes of production.
3. Stage of Socialism as the property is in common
ownership, the society at large shall be responsible for the production and
distribution of goods.
The production of goods in common ownership, the distribution
of commodities will have to follow “from each according to his ability to
each according to his needs”.
However, inequalities will remain and hence, the need to
distribute the goods will become inevitable. The ultimate stage is that of
Communism and this state he imagined in his work called “Critique of the Gotha
Program”.
He said that the Communist society will have to develop
and emerge from capitalist society and in respects, it is bound to carry with
it some marks of capitalist society.
“Accordingly the individual producer will receive back
what he gives to society, after deductions for government, education, and other
social charges. He will give society his individual quota of labour. For
example: the social working day consists in the sum total of individual working
days; the individual labour time of the individual producer is the part of the
social working day which he contributes; his share thereof. He will receive
from society a certificate that he has performed so much work (after deducting
his work for social funds), and with this certificate he will draw from the
social provision of articles of consumption as much as a similar quantity of
labour costs. The same quantity of labour as he will give to society in one
form he will receive back in another.... The right of producers will be
proportionate to the work they will perform: the equality will consist in the
application of the same measure: labour." Higher Communist State- Concept
of power and labour gets vanished. After production force increases, then there
will be all round development of individual. This we get from “Communist
Manifesto”. In higher form of communist state after enslaving subordination of
the individual to the division of labour and anti-thesis between mental and
physical labour has vanished after labour has become not only a means of life
but life’s prime want, after the productive forces have also increased with the
all-round development of individual. And all the springs of the co-operative
wealth flows more abundantly”.
He further believed that the concept of state is a super
structure in a capitalist state to organize and uphold class oppression. The
bureaucracy and the executive in a state are for the managing common class and
struggle waged by the society against each other. Law is not based on will but
once the bourgeois state is overthrown by a proletariat, the proletariat state
would come into existence. This state would be representative of social will of
all the classes. The nexus between safeguarding the private property by a
capitalist state will be replaced by a proletariat state which has nationalized
all the private property. However, it is interesting to note that the state and
statecraft remains an important and integral in the proletarian society.
Evgeny Pashukanis
He tried to remove the gloss on law and Marxism as
experimented by the Marxist state. He believed that proletariat law practised
in erstwhile Soviet Union needed alternative general concepts to reinforce
Marxist theory of law. He believed that power is collective will as the ‘rule
of law’ realized in the bourgeois society is to the extent that the society is
represented by a market.
Karl Renner
He authored “The institutions of private law and their
social functions”. This work of his utilized the Marxist theory of sociology to
develop a separate theory of law. He believed that the Socialists and Marxists
have failed to understand that new society as such societies have pre-formed in
the womb of the old and that is equally true for law as well. According to him,
the process of change from one given order to another is automatic.
Renner confessed that the concept of property in terms of
Marx has not remained the same today. The property whether in socialism and
capitalism has not remained an instrument of exploitation rather the natural
forces of change have put property into various restrictions be it tenants,
employees or consumers. However, he also said that the power of property
remains whatsoever the political character of the state may be.
Complete List of Jurisprudence Notes
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