NCJ Number
87477
Date Published
1980
Length
318 pages
Annotation
Based on the major texts of Soviet law and constitutional and administrative material, various uses of law for social control in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are shown, with attention to a comparison of Marxist theory with Russian rationalizations of it in practice.
Abstract
Marx believed that the fundamental agency of social development is economic. The economic infrastructure was perceived as determining the form of the superstructure, part of which was state and law. Marx viewed the state as starting to wither away at the beginning of the transition period to communism, and by the end of the period, when communism has been achieved, the state will no longer exist. Marx and Engels did not say much about crime and criminals, since their basic proposition was that crime is caused by imperfections inherent in capitalist society which would be eliminated by communism, thus eliminating crime. Lenin wrongly applied Marx's concepts to the Russian situation, one to which Marx's theories did not relate, and with his concept of the Party, Lenin laid the foundations for the party-state bureaucracy that developed; this was particularly ironic since Marx rejected political parties, maintaining that the working class would be its own party. In Russia under Lenin, there was an innovative period that was supposed to be the transition period envisioned by Marx, although some important qualifications had started to appear in state theory, notably the theory of socialism in one country, to try to explain the actual situation in what would appear to be Marxist terms; however, the withering away of the state, law, and crime did not happen, as the state became strengthened, reorganized, and protected. Law became more accepted, institutionalized, and codified, which meant that less faith was placed in revolutionary legal consciousness. Crime increased, despite the use of novel ideas such as constructive punishments rather than imprisonment. Although the labels of Marx are still attached to what has happened in Russia, these labels do not strictly apply. A selected bibliography provides about 270 listings.