Book Reviews and Notices : Socialism. BY PAUL M. SWEEZY. (New York, Toronto, and London: Mc-Graw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1949. Pp. xiii, 276. $3.50.)

• Author: Robert Hammer
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200322
• Published date: 01 September 1949
• Date: 01 September 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

440
The book contains a comprehensive introduction into the dogmatic
foundations of Marxist-Leninist legal doctrine, and reference to &dquo;first
principles&dquo; is also frequently made in the chapters dealing with specific
institutions of Soviet public law. The Marxian view that law represents
the advantage of the ruling class is retained, but it is argued that in the
Soviet state the ruling class has come to embrace the large majority of
the people. No particular emphasis is given to the Marxian prophecy of
the &dquo;withering away&dquo; of the law in a classless society, and the possibility
of a realization of this vision during the period of &dquo;capitalist encircle-
ment&dquo; of the Soviet Union is discounted.
The foremost task of justice in the USSR, according to Mr. Vyshinsky,
is the defense of the social and state organization against...