Class Struggle and Socialist Justice

The Case of Czechoslovakia

Bibliographic Data

ID9434607
AuthorsOtto Ulc (State University of New York, corresponding author)
Year1967
Volume61
Issue3
Pages727-743
Publication date1967-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1976091
OpenAlexW2317365796
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited6

This article represents an attempt to assess the degree of legal certainty in post-February 1948 Czechoslovakia and, more specifically, the intervention of political bias in the work of the courts. This conflict will be viewed and evaluated through an analysis of the class struggle, a process most appropriate for testing the interaction between political pressures and judicial integrity. The study of basic laws, published court decisions, and legal literature support the contention that the Communist Party has not given up the discriminatory concept of class justice which subordinates law to politics, and that the absence of legal “definiteness” is a conditio sine qua non of a totalitarian mode of government. It should be added that my first hand experience with the Czechoslovak judicial system is limited to the period 1953–1959. As far as the sixties are concerned (Part VI), it has been necessary to rely exclusively on the published and available sources. Without benefit of “hard evidence,” the conclusions in that section must be regarded as merely interpretative and inferential

Certainty · Class (philosophy · Economic Justice · Epistemology · Intervention (counseling · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sine qua non · Sociology · European and International Law Studies · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Psychology

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