MARXISM

Karl Marx was more of a philosopher than a jurist since he focused on the manipulation of law
and proposed the total eradication of law. Marxist jurisprudence contends that the State
maintains order within the society by perpetuating the conflict as a dominant class wielding
power over classes with less power.

The centerpiece of Marxism was the criticism of capitalism: a social system promoting
systematic inequality between classes. According to Marx & Engels, law is beneficial to the
ruling class (Bourgeoisie) and acts as the instrument of class oppression over the working
class (Proletariats).

Marx & Engels incorporated a dialectic theory of progress derived from Hegel based on
Immanuel Kants proposition that, every thesis has an anti-thesis and when they collide, it
leads to synthesis. According to Marx, the capitalist society and its ideology is the thesis with the
labour class being the anti-thesis, and thus a collision would lead to synthesis i.e, the
communist theory: a society with no class distinctions, where laws would exist only to regulate
administration and therefore could not facilitate oppression.

Class is determined by how people earn their wealth. He asserts that the State and its
institutions serve the interest of those who own property (Bourgeoisie) as they fund the political
parties. Therefore According to Marx the ruling class makes huge profits from labour who are
awarded with negligible remuneration. E.g in Bangladesh, substantial profits are made by
garments owners annually but a meagre percentage is passed on to the labour.

Marx developed two linked theoretical concepts: Base and Superstructure. Base refers to the
means of production and resources e.g factories, machineries etc. Superstructure refers to all
other aspects of society- education, political structure and law. Marx argued that the
superstructure reflects the bourgeoisie interest who control the base. Base shapes the
superstructure as the superstructure justifies it as per Gramsci.

The domination of law takes place in two ways- Coercion and Ideology. Coercion is a method
by which force is used to achieve the goal by key institutions of the legal system: the judiciary,
police etc. These institutions protect the modes of production of the ruling class e.g, in
Bangladesh garments industry, whenever there is a strike by workers for salary increment, the
police use force to control such strikes, to protect the owners at the cost of the labours salaries.

Criminal offences are mostly committed by Proletariats who then face severe punishment
whereas, big corporations owned by bourgeoisie, engaging in more serious harm are simply
subject to civil law. For e.g The British American Tobacco pays a minimal fine for
environmental damages and contribution to risk of human health.

Ideology works by misinterpreting the real conditions of existence.The state (the bourgeoisie)
presents the society in such a manner that proletariats are convinced to work in exchange of
whatever remuneration they are given. Bangkowski & Mungham suggested that law deceives
people that it can transform the capitalist condition. Unless there is a breakdown of false
ideology, it will remain a major obstacle to revolution.

A revolution would result in abolition of classes. The power of state would disappear and
governmental function will transform into simple administration. According to Marx, since there
is no selling of land in a communist society, there will be no disputes and thus no requirement
for law. Non-existence of property base will lead to redundancy of superstructure- restoring
balance in society. This was Marxs dream: a utopian perfect world.

Lenin, the leader of Bolsherik Party (later renamed the Communist Party) seized power
through the famous coup detat in October 1917. He advocated that capitalism must change
but not in the exact manner suggested by Marx. Revolution would have to be an organised
attack in economically backward nations like Soviet Russia. The capitalist system would wither
away to the extent of private ownership of properties. All property would now belong to the state
i.e, Lenin himself. Lenins communism focused on leadership and economic management as
opposed to Marxs restoring of equality. He turned out to be even more oppressive and anyone
who opposed was termed a bourgeoisie agent. The communist state of Lenin is still referred to
as one of the worst forms of communism.

Joseph Stalin initially announced a 5 year plan to bring about rapid industrialisation and
complete eradication of private enterprises. In 1929 agriculture was collectivised at the cost of
millions of lives, by forcing soviet peasants to give up their land and join the collective form.
Stalins communist economy was supported by systematic and brutal political oppression.

Pashukanis went further than Lenin and masked his greed with new illusion that the
bourgeoisie law had reached its peak of development under capitalism and since there were no
other alternatives to existing law, they were now undergoing a transitional period after which an
alternative would develop. Thus the Bourgeoisie law would remain as long as it continued to
serve the greed of leaders.

Althusser, a structural Marxist thinker, distinguished between repressive state apparatus

(RSA) and ideological state apparatus (ISA). RSAs are similar to coercion discussed above
whereas ISAs serve to legitimise capitalism, to create the illusion that the current state of the
world is necessary. It is necessary to relate law to other social and political elements (social
totality) comprehend it. According to Althusser, economy and social totality correspond with
each other. Economy is thus inseparable from the law as it is essential to the structuring of
economy.

It has been seen that the various forms of Marxism in practice had corrupted the original
purpose. Therefore it can be argued there is no perfect communist state because it is
unthinkable of a society without law- it would run into chaos. The communist quest for classless
society is bound to fail for someone has to hold the statess wealth (the bourgeoisie). Class
distinctions will always remain as where there is rich their is poor.
Marx failed to take into account of laws which in fact restrain oppression and laws which apply
irrespective of classes. For e.g in Bangladesh labour laws tend to ensure worker safety and anti
corruption law, money laundering Acts impose criminal sanctions to culprits usually belonging to
ruling class. Marx also failed to take note of terrorism, religious and racism issues.

In conclusion, Marxist theory does not apply to modern world as people are better educated,
they no longer have to sell labour but may sell skills. Some people have even opted for self-
employment. There are also new laws to regulate equal pay for equal work.