THE SOCIAL RELATIONS AND LAW IN SOVIET SOCIETY

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Abstract

The year of 2017 has special significance in Russia. The events taken place one hundred years ago fundamentally changed the direction of Russian society’ development and the system of existed so-cial relations as well as form of government, political regime and legal system. The revolution happens when the government is unable to move the society forward by improving social relations existing in-side it. The revolution always denies existing social order, it has deep social roots and is not one-moment but long-term process that changes radically the whole system of relations. It could be defined as a new sociocultural programme implemented according to the interests of social powers that have just taken over the government. In revolutionary conditions, when one social order is being changed by another one, the law plays special role. Authors analyze tendencies of development of Soviet law and legal science. They show how sociologism of early Soviet socialistic law by the end of 1930-s was changed by etatistic positiv-ism. Marxist theory used by the Bolsheviks was a form of sociological theories because social interests considered as its determining part. From 1917 Bolsheviks’ social practice had pronounced sociological destination based on artistic (including lawmaking) activity of working people. But by the end of 1930ths Soviet law came under strong influence of etatistic positivism that mediated domination of par-ty-governmental system. Marx-Lenin conceptions about socialistic society as a system of relations based of social equality and justice were not brought to life and did not determine Soviet state and law’ type. Identification of interests as real reasons of social actions enables to find out genuine social structure of the Soviet socie-ty in which specificity of legal administration was predestined by the struggle between party-state bu-reaucracy and broad strata of working people. There were principal divergences between legally regu-lated social structure and relations that really existed in the same society. Deformation of social rela-tions predoomed the fall of the soviet system on the cusp of the 1980ths and 1990ths.

About the authors

Marina V Nemytina

RUDN University Law Institute

Author for correspondence.
Email: nemytina_mrvk@pfur.ru

Nemytina Marina V. - Doctor of Legal Science, Professor, Head of Department of History of Law and State, Institute of Law, People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University).

6, Miklukho-Maklaya st., Moscow 117198, Russia

Tsybik Ts Mikheeva

RUDN University Law Institute

Email: mikheeva_tsts@rudn.university

Mikheeva Tsybik Ts. - Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of History of Law and State, Institute of Law, People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University).

6, Miklukho-Maklaya st., Moscow 117198, Russia

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Copyright (c) 2017 Nemytina M.V., Mikheeva T.T.

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