Marxist

Question 1

Marx’s theory of history and his claim that law (and morality) are “ideological”

what is ideology

Answer 1

in the pejorative sense is an inferentially related set of beliefs about the character of the social, political and economic world

Question 2

Marx’s theory of history and his claim that law (and morality) are “ideological”

ideology has two characteristics:

Answer 2

(A) it falsely represents what are really the interests of a particular economic class as being in the general interest; and

(b) the false representation is only possible because those who accept the ideology are mistaken about (or ignorant of) how they came to hold those beliefs

Question 3

Here is an example that will help make concrete what is at stake in the Marxian theory of ideology:

Answer 3

• Members of the “Tea Party” in the United States believe that low taxes are in the general interest
• • Members of the “Tea Party” are mistaken: low taxes are not in their interest, since middle- and lower-class people depend on public goods, social security etc.
• Members of the “Tea Party” are mistaken about which policies are in their interest because (in part) they are mistaken about how they came to believe (A), i.e., they do not realize the extent to which propaganda by the ruling classes led them to their false belief.

Question 4

the Marxian theory, norms (moral or legal) are ideological insofar as

Answer 4

(i) we have the norms we have because it is in the interests of the dominant class that we have them; (ii) we are unaware of the truth of (i); and (iii) being aware of the truth of (i) is incompatible with continued belief in those norms being acceptable

Question 5

The assumptions basic to Marxist legal theory

Answer 5

denial of anything supernatural, saying, “There are no eternal, immutable principles of law

Question 6

Marxist Law – The Origin of Law

Question 7

Class divisions within societies

Answer 7

create conflict and disorder and therefore law (and the state) comes into existence to deal with this conflict.

Question 8

Many of his ideologies have to do with the

Answer 8

Many of his ideologies have to do with the issues that face the proletariat, which is a fancy word for the middle or working class person who serves their capitalist master in exchange for money

Question 9

Marx’s solution to problems faced by working class is

Answer 9

overthrow capitalism and enforce communist law.

Question 10

Communist law

Answer 10

All the means of economic production (such as land, raw materials, tools, and factories) to become common property, so every member of society could work according to their capabilities, and consume according to their needs.

• everyone owns the land

Question 11

Marxist law (socialistic law) will reflect

Answer 11

the desires of the working 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

Question 12

repressive state apparatus

Answer 12

Marx also believed that the law was to repress and control the general public and cause them to conform to the needs of the bourgoisie

Question 13

Bourgeoisie

Answer 13

the educated population associated with money for whom the system is working for. They serve as controllers of the world’s natural, economic, and human resources.

Question 14

Definition of law - Marxist theory

Answer 14

Marxist theories of law generally define law as a tool of oppression used by capitalists to control the proletariat.

Question 15

The nexus between safeguarding the private property by a capitalist state will be

Answer 15

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

Question 16

goes on to criticise the whole tradition of government under the rule of law as nothing more than

Answer 16

he goes on to criticise the whole tradition of government under the rule of law as nothing more than a mere expression of “bourgeois” aspirations

Question 17

Marxist law does not seek to protect any human right, but

Answer 17

Marxist law does not seek to protect any human right, but that Marxism regards law only as a mechanism “for holding the other subordinated classes obedient to the one class”.

Question 18

the idea of law was interpreted by Marx as invariably

Answer 18

the idea of law was interpreted by Marx as invariably an instrument of class domination, he argued that the coming of a classless society implied that all laws would have to disappear.

Because Marx believed that law arises from class conflicts, he concluded that the need for law would cease to exist with the advent of classless communism. Such a promise of lawlessness that leads to “perfect justice” was correctly interpreted by Kelsen as being “a utopian prophecy

Question 19

Since lawlessness is elevated by Marxism to represent

Answer 19

Since lawlessness is elevated by Marxism to represent the final stage of communism—which according to Marx necessarily predates “a period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat”—it is not unreasonable to explain the undercurrent of extreme violence manifested in Marxist regimes as being little more than the projection of such political ideas.

Question 20

Marx believed that laws are

Answer 20

are the product of class oppression, and that laws would have to disappear with the advent of communism.

Question 21

In communist manifesto (1848)

Answer 21

Bourgeois jurisprudence is nothing but the will of the ruling class turned into law for all

Question 22

what does Marx think of the state

contrast to general conception?

Answer 22

State is a committee for managing affairs of burgeoise

Generally, state is neutral organisation established for good of all

Question 23

Tension not answered by Marx

Answer 23

capitalists are constantly employing the institutions of the state and law to maintain their system of false universalition and self interest. Using state law to fulfil their interest?

OR is system of law unconscious necessary output of capitalist economic relations i.e. state laws fulfilling their interest b/c it is natural consequence of relationship between superstructure and base

Question 24

Bourgeouisis