Marxism View of Law
Karl Marx was a political and social theorist and philosopher and was born in Germany in 1818. Marx is famous for his book "Das Kapital" and for coauthoring "The Communist Manifesto" with Friedrich Engels. Marx is considered the father of communism, and many communists also describe themselves as Marxists. Marxism sees human life as a class struggle between the owners of the means of production, or the bourgeoisie, and the workers, or the proletariat.
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Atheism
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The basis of Marxist philosophies on law began with the notion that God does not exist and is indeed just a creation of the bourgeoisie and another means in which to exert their control and dominance. According to Marxism, immutable laws of God or morals don't exist, except those humans create. The Marxist theory of law holds that all laws are only grounded in human interrelationships.
Oppression
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Seen through the eyes of a class conflict, Marxism sees laws simply as a means of one dominant class controlling and oppressing the other subordinate class. Class divisions in society create disorder and conflict and, therefore, the state -- with its laws -- comes into existence to deal with these challenges to its authority. In order to prevent the natural tensions arising from this division and inequality, the laws become a vast, overseeing state, which in itself is a means of oppression and of preserving the status quo.
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Private Property
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Marx maintained that the laws had no real authority apart from the power invested by the bourgeoisie in the state to maintain the oppression. The private property accumulated in the hands of the bourgeoisie creates an inequality; therefore, the notion that the laws maintain equality between all peoples is a fallacy. There cannot be equality within a system based on inequality. The inequality leads the oppressed to naturally lash out and break the law, but they cannot be held responsible because it is in fact the society that is causing this "unlawful" behavior.
Revolution
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According to Marx, the proletariat is justified in breaking the law and the only way to truly get justice is to overthrow the ruling classes through revolution, which is a complete and total rejection of the governing laws. Once revolution has been achieved, the proletariat will make the laws, and these will be truly just laws based on sharing the resources of society.
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References
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