Marxist contract theory

[Qwerty Dvorak]

I remember flicking through a contract law revision book a while ago and while examining the underlying principles of contract law it briefly mentioned the "Marxist theory" of contract, about it being how the ruling classes uses contract law to enforce its own order on the masses. Does anyone know where I could find any literature on this, or on any other Marxist critique of contract law? I was looking at Demogorgon's thread on freedom of contract but someone needs to tell him that we're not all libertarians. Any Marxist works on contract in general, and not just as opposed to libertarian theory?

[JimmyJazz]

possibly helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Marxism-Marxist-Introductions-Hugh-Collins/dp/0192851446/ref=cm_syf_dtl_pl_26
http://www.amazon.com/Law-Rise-Capitalism-Michael-Tigar/dp/1583670300/ref=cm_syf_dtl_pl_25

[mikelepore]

Copied below is an excerpt from Daniel De Leon, "Socialist Reconstruction of Society", 1905. De Leon taught law at Columbia College (before its name was changed to Columbia University) in New York City and he began to support Marxism.

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It is an inevitable consequence of the falsehood regarding the hand-in-hand prosperity of capitalists and workingmen that their relations are mutual, and, consequently, that they stand upon a footing of equality. Of course, if the two are getting along swimmingly, they must be peers, even if it be conceded that their peerage may be of different rank. Down from that parent falsehood, set afloat by the capitalist professors, politicians and pulpiteers, and zealously carried into the ranks of pure and simple unionism by the labor lieutenants of the capitalist class, a long line of descent of increasingly insidious and practically pestiferous falsehoods may be traced. The ancestral falsehood of the hand-in-hand progress of capitalist and workingman begets the son-falsehood of the equality of workingman and capitalist; the son-falsehood begets the grandson-fraud of "contracts"; and you will see how the grandson-fraud litters a prolific progeny of its ilk to labor's undoing.

What is a "contract"?

I am not going to give you any socialist definition of the term. The term has nothing to do with socialism. It is a term the meaning of which has grown up with the race's experience. The definition I shall give is the law book definition. It is the definition accepted and acted upon in all the courts of equity.

A contract is an agreement entered into by two equal parties; a contract is an agreement entered into between peers; a contract is an agreement entered into by two freemen. Where the parties to a thing called a contract fall within these categories, they are said to be of contracting mind and power, and the document is valid; where that which is called a contract lacks any of these essential qualities, especially if it lacks them all, the thing is null, void and of no effect; it is a badge of fraud of which he is guilty who imposes the contract upon the other.

Let me illustrate:

Suppose that some Minneapolis agent of a lecture bureau, anxious to secure my invaluable services as a speaker for this evening, had written to me in New York, asking for my terms; and suppose I had answered that I would come for $500. He would have written back wanting me to come down a peg or so. I would have replied. Suppose that after considerable chaffering I had agreed upon $400 and he had yielded, whereupon a document would have been drawn up reading somewhat like this:

"John Jones, party of the first part, and Daniel De Leon, party of the second part, have mutually covenanted and agreed that the party of the second part will deliver an address in Minneapolis on the 10th day of July, and the party of the first part will pay the party of the second part for his services the sum of $400 in U.S. currency."

This document being signed would be a contract. If on the appointed day I came, delivered the goods, and John Jones failed to pay me, I would have a just cause of action against him for breach of contract. If, on the other hand, I failed to put in an appearance, he could sue and recover damages from me on the ground of my breach of contract. Whatever people may think of the steepness of my price, the contract would stand. It would stand - why? Because both he and I were free to accept or reject; neither of us acted under compulsion; we were both free agents.

But now suppose that, instead of writing, he came down to New York, rushed into my office, whipped a Colt's horse pistol out of his hip pocket, cocked and held it with the muzzle an inch from my head, and said: "Sign this!" laying before me a sheet of paper containing this legend:

"John Jones, party of the first part, and Daniel De Leon, party of the second part, have mutually covenanted and solemnly agreed and bound themselves as follows, to wit: that the party of the second part will deliver an address in Minneapolis on the 10th day of July, and the party of the first part will pay the party of the second part for his services the sum of five cents, which sum of five cents the party of the second part hereby, acknowledges to be a liberal payment for his services, the said sum being agreed upon after a friendly and mutual understanding between the said party of the first part and the said party of the second part."

Would I sign? Why, of course, I would! I would sign above, below, to the right, to the left. I would never stop signing. I would keep on signing like a "moving picture," until that pistol was removed from its close proximity to my temple.

That is the situation of labor when it signs "contracts."

Now, say that he, John Jones, returns to Minneapolis with (he "contract" in his pocket, and a glow of righteous, patriotic contentment on his face. Say he hires a hall, prints and circulates posters announcing the meeting and address, and inserts advertisements in the papers; say he even pays the bills, and does not cheat in that also. The day of the meeting, the hour arrives - but not I. The hall fills - but not with me. Hour upon hour passes - whoever else may be there, I am absent. The audience storms at him; calls him names; insists upon and gets its admission moneys back. Say that, indignant at my "breach of contract," John Jones were to institute a suit for damages against me.

What would happen?

He would be thrown out of court for a swindler, he might even be prosecuted for "assault with intent to kill." That "contract" is null, void and of no effect; it is a badge of fraud of which he is guilty; it is all that because I was not free, because he held me under duress.

Exactly so with the workingman who signs "contracts"; exactly so with the capitalist who extorts them.

The workingman does not stand upon a footing of equality with the capitalist; he is not of contracting mind and power with the employer. The latter holds over him the whip of hunger that the capitalist system places in the hands of the master, and with the aid of which he can cow his wage slave into acquiescence.

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Complete Document ... (http://deleonism.org/srs.htm)

[mikelepore]

how the ruling classes uses contract law to enforce its own order

Just look at the one-sided nature of the employment contract that a company typically gives a worker to sign on the day of hiring:

Items included:

List of things the worker must do
List of things the worker must not do
List of things the company is allowed to do
List of things the company isn't required to do

Items not included:

List of things the company must do
List of things the company must not do
List of things the worker is allowed to do
List of things the worker isn't required to do