The General Theory of Law and Marxism by Evgeny Pashukanis

The General Theory of Law and Marxism by Evgeny Pashukanis

E. B. Pashukanis was the most significant contemporary to develop a fresh, new Marxist perspective in post-revolutionary Russia. In 1924 he wrote what is probably his most influential work, The General Theory of Law and Marxism. In the second edition, 1926, he stated that this work was not to be seen as a final product but more for "self-clarification" in hopes of adding "stimulus and material for further discussion." A third edition was printed in 1927.Pashukanis's "commodity-exchange" theory of law spearheaded a perspective that traced the form of law, not to class interests, but to capital logic itself. Until his death, he continued to argue for the ideal of the withering away of the state, law, and the juridic subject. He eventually arrived at a position contrary to Stalin's who, at that time, was attempting to consolidate and strengthen the state apparatus under the name of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Inevitably, Pashukanis was branded an enemy of the revolution in January 1937. His works were subsequently removed from soviet libraries. In 1954, Pashukanis was "rehabilitated" by the Soviets and restored to an acceptable position in the historical development of marxist law.In Europe and North America, a number of legal theorists only rediscovered Pashukanis's work in the late 1970s. They subjected it to careful critical analysis, and realized that he offered an alternative to the traditional Marxist interpretations, which saw law simply and purely as tied to class interests of domination. By the mid-1980s the instrumental Marxist perspective in vogue in Marxist sociology, criminology, politics, and economics gave way, to a significant extent due to Pashukanis's insights, to a more structural Marxist accounting of the relationship of law to economics and other social spheres.In his new introduction, Dragan Milovanovic discusses the life of Pashukanis, Marx and the commodity-exchange theory of law, and the historical lessons of Pashukanis's work. This book will be of interest to sociologists, criminologists, and political scientists interested in issues of law and Marxism.

Evgeny Pashukanis was born in 1891 of a Lithuanian family. He became a Bolshevik in 1912 and later was a Vice-Commissar of Justice and the editor of several legal journals. He was killed in the Stalin purges in 1937. Law and Marxism is his major work. This edition is translated by Barbara Einhorn)

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780765807441
ISBN 10	0765807440
Title	The General Theory of Law and Marxism
Author	Evgeny Pashukanis
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Taylor & Francis Inc
Year published	2001-10-15
Number of pages	218
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.