Socialist Constitutionalism and the Communist Polity

This book provides the first intervention to ongoing debates about law and politics under capitalism from a socialist constitutionalist perspective. Inspired by socialist thinkers and historical attempts to build socialism, it explores the relevance of conceptions of democracy and rights for contemporary struggles.

This collection of specially commissioned essays provides the first incisive collaborative intervention to ongoing debates about law and politics under capitalism from an explicitly socialist constitutionalist perspective. Heterodox literature on constitutional studies, to a large extent and with a few notable exceptions, shares a rejection of Marxist analytical principles. Moving beyond the formalism and instrumentalism, this volume will engage with the question: what differentiates a Marxist conception of socialist constitutionalism and the role of institutional forms in building socialism, from republican and post-Marxist conceptions? Drawing inspiration from socialist thinkers and historical attempts to build socialism, the contributors explain the relevance of socialist conceptions of democracy and rights for contemporary struggles for social emancipation. They combine historical and theoretical analyses to review socialist constitutional theory and practice, while thinking about the future of democracy and rights in a communist polity. The contributions deal with a variety of topical issues, including the relationship between state, law, and society; the relationship between constitutional law and revolutionary social change; right as legal superstructure and right as a form of social consciousness; the ethical grounds of communism; socialist conceptions of right; and principles for a socialist constitutionalism. Consolidating Marxist approaches to public law and constitutional theory, Socialist Constitutionalism and the Communist Polity offers both a rigorous contribution to the elaboration of Marxist theory and a re-examination of foundational constitutional concepts, questions, and debates that will help to orient non-specialist readers