1203 marxism liberalism and feminism leftist legal thought

Marxism,L i b e r a l i s m , A n d Feminism (LeftistL e g a l T h o u g h t ) Mamism,Liberalism,An dFeminism (LeftistL e g a l T h o u g h t ) Dr.Jur.EricEngle SERIALSP U B L I C A T I O N S NEWD E L H I (INDIA) ODr.Jur.EricEngle FirstPublished— 2010 ISBN: A llrightsreservedw iththe Publisher,includin gthe rightto translate orreproduce this book or parts there of except for brief quotations in criticalarticlesorr e v ices Publishedb y SERIALSP U B L I C A T I O N S 4830/24,PrahladStreet,AnsariRoad DaryaG anj,N ewDelhi-110002(Ind ia)Phone: 23245225F a x : 91-11-23272135 E-mail:s e r i a l s Satyam.net.in CONTENTS Foreword vii Rousseau,P r e c u r s o r ofM arx? KarlMarx’sRootsinJ ohn L o c k e 23 HumanRightsAccordingtoM a r x i s m 32 SocialistLegalismi n t h e USSR 44 LawandL i t e r a t u r e i n E m i l e 65 MackinnonandM a r x 81 LeftL e g a l T h e o r y 106 FOREWORD This w orkpreventsa broad overview of M arx’s theory on thestate andthe in flu en cesM ar xistth eory h as h ad on leg al thought.M ar xis mw asth elarg estandm ostfarr e a c h i n g attemptat fu n d am entalsystem ic reformthew or Idh as everseen , governingat one point at least one qu arter of theentireplanet I startedm y stu dies ofM arxism from th e p ersp ectiveof thecoldw ar:all I knew about Marxism w as that it w as aglobal id eolog ylockedina d eathstrugglew iththeUnitedStates As I grew old er I becam e m orecritical and able to assessbothM ar xismandC ap it alismontheir ow nterm s Here Ipresent a theoretical overv iew of the M ar xist view of law andthestateto sh ow th at M ar xism w as a critiqu e from w ithinliber al W ester n v alu es, a d ev i atio n w ith in an h istor icalmovement Inp ract iceth e M ar x is t ideaof a p ro let ar iandictatorshipdegeneratedinto dysfun ctionandcapitalistrestorationin n plementedb y thec o m munistpartyits elf.T h e U.S.didn otw inthecoldw ar.Rather,theUSSRlost.Sov iet(mis)managementw as drivenby fear, lead in gto silen ce, blam eshifting,denialofresp onsibility,lackofinitiative, and noreward,onlyp unishm ent for thosew hod ared tot r y toinnovate.Theinvoluted, defensiveandp arano i a c Sovietsystemw h ichb r o u g h tl i t e r a c y toR u ssiaandd o u bledi t s l i f e expectancyc o l l a p sedresultingi n a dropint h e a v e r a g e Russianlifeexpectancy.Whatarew e to make of the afterm ath ? H owmuchof thehop es M ar xismofferedw erelies orunrealistic orattainable? SovietandC h i n e s e communisma l i k e eliminatedi l l i t e r a c y , elevatedt h e s t a t u so f women,endedfamineandprovided Marxism,Liberalism,andFeminis m basic med ical care to hund red s of millions of p eop le w h ow ou ldoth erw ise never h avegotten it H ow cou ld system s w hichstart out so su ccessfu lly, w ork in gtru lyrev olu tion arysocial changes, so qu ick ly grind to a halt and d egen erate backintoc a p italism? Lib er a1th eo ryar g u esth atd ict ato r sh ip sin ev itab lydegenerate into corru p tion and th at the transition betw een onedictatorandanotheris alw aysd ang erou s and u nstable TheSov iet exp erien ce firm s th at v iew In stead of creatin g ap roletariand ictatorsh ip, M ar xis msh ou ldh avesoug h t tostrugglet h r o ughliberalismandp l u r alism.S e l f - l i m itingtemporary dictatorship s and stable w aysof transferringpowerprob ablycou ldn oth avebeeninn p lem en tedinth e Sov ietsystems ThisworkexaminestheM arxisttheoryo f lawa n d t h e s t a t e asal e g a1and historical p henom en on.Whenscholars situ ateMarxismcorrectlyinitsrelationto thel i b e r a l t h e o r i e s w h i c h engenderedi t ande x a m inethehistoricalexperienceso f Marxis mw e candrawbothpositive andneg ative in sp irationfromthe Soviet experiencesandlessons for contem porarylawreform.W e c a n lookatt h e Sovieth i s t o r i e s f o r e x a m plesofboth“w hatw entw rong” and“w hatw entrigh t” andw h y TheSoviet lega1systemw asa variant of, and not a m ajor breakfrom,c i v i l i a n istl e g a1systemsj u st as Marx ism itse lfrepresentedn o t a b r e a k i n W e s t e r n theorieso f e p istemologyands tatebut rathera dialecticalsynthesis of prior thought byscholarsw el1 anchoredinthew estern tradition Th at is w h ytheprocessoflegalreform in Eastern Europe — a key asp ectcapitalistr estoration— has g on esosm ooth ly From th eM arxistperspectiveitmayindicatethat not enoughconsciou seffortwasmadeatdevelopingSovietSocialistlega1concepts.Thisw orksketchesoutthe positionth attheSoviet systemessentiallymirroredtheU S sy stem withp aralleli n s t i t u t i o ns buta d i f f e r e n t s e t o f j u stifications.T h e U S a n d U.S.S.R.w ere stru ctu ralsim ilarfed eralstates,victim soffascistsur priseattacks H ow ever, theyoperatedu nderdifferingteleolog ies,consequent to a d ifferent choice of the p rin ciple for the society’sdistributiveprinciple:equalityfortheEast,libertyfortheWe st Thereareplentyofprod u ctivep athsforfutureresearchintoSoviet/S o c i a l i s t legalh i s t o r y andItry heretoi n d i c a t e them Am ore controversialandm oreim portantp o s i t i o n I a r g u e foris thatitis w rongt o e q u a t e t h e S o v i e t S o c i a l i s t l e g a l s y s t e m withN ation alSocialism T h a t i s a n o t h e r r e a s o n w h y S o v i e t lawandl e g altheoryn eedsresearched— t o preventt h e whitewashingofbrutalfailederrorsin th e p ast, to stopresurgen tfascism O fcourse,h adn ation alsocialismn otunleashedaglobalw aritw ou Idholdamuchbetterplaceinhistory.Butthen,w arw asbu iltintotheN.S.visiono f s t a t e s lockedinzerosu mcomp etitionf o r t r a d e a n d t e r r i t o r y T h e pre-warGermanecon omic miracleth atsomedonotseet o d a y butwhichwaso n l y tooe v i d e n t inthe1930swasl a r g e l y t h e resultoft h e s e c r e t f a s c i s t r e a r m amentp r o g r a m P r i o r t o t h e w aratleast, itseemedthe fascistshadgoodideas.Historicalpersp ectiveisthea b i l i t y t o s t e p o u t o f o n e s c u r r e n t e r a a n d seet h e w orldthroughthee yes ofa n o t h e r o n e , noti n h in d sight,noreveninforesight,bu ttobe present,m entally,inthep ast.Seeingt h a t t h e u t o p ianvisionsof f a s c i s m a n d c o m munismalikec o lla p sed,onec a ta str o p hical ly,t h e otherg r a c e f u l l y , i t i s und erstan d ableth atthep ost-m od ern istsared istru stfu 1ofutopianu niv ersal narratives.H ow ever,w henonelookstothesufferingoft h e T h i r d W o r l d a n d s e e s l i f e e x p e c t a n c i e s i n t h e 40sa n d d e a t h f r o m s t a r v a t i o n a n d p r e v e n t a b l e d i s e a s e t h e n oneiscompelledtoreexam inethesed ifferin gsocials y s t e m s fromalegal persp ectiveinord ertounderstandthe possibilitiesandlimitso f f u ndamentalr e f o r m B e c a u seb o t h Sovi etR u ssiaandM a o i s t C h i n a a c h i e v e d s i g n ificantgain sin literacy a n d lifeexpectan cyasw ellas innutritionan dgend erequ alityascomparedw ithT s a r i s t RussiaandW arlordC h i n a t h e n t h a t too explain sw h ylookingatSovietl a w i s i m p o r t a n t : i t p r e s e n t s an alternativ e theory of developm ent which m er itsconsideration.Thei s s u e i s , h o w t o o b t a i n t h e r a p i d p r o g r e s s inl i t e r a c y , s e x e q u a l i t y , n u t r i t i o n , health care w hich th eauthoritariansystemo b t a i n edw ithoutt h eformationo f a totalitarianp e r m anentdictatorshipo f as e l f servinge l i t e ? Thisw orkco n si sts ofa theoreticalportion,ahistoricalportiona n d a speculativeportion.Thetheoreticalportion