The Relationship between Ideology and State under Marxism.

UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, MUKONO

SCHOOL OF LAW

                                                                  

A PAPER SUBMITTED AS WRITTEN COURSEWORK IN COMPLIANCE WITH CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT UNDER THE EXAMINATION RULES AND GUIDELINES LEADING TO THE AWARD OF A BACHELOR OF LAWS (LLB) DEGREE OF UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, MUKONO.

BY SILVER M KAYONDO

SO9B11/316

LECTURER: Mr. BRIAN KALENGE

TUTOR: Mr. MARK MUGASHA

COURSE UNIT: JURISPRUDENCE II

Question: Discuss the relationship between State and Ideology according to Marxism.

Introduction:

This paper seeks to address and interpret the Marxist concepts of ‘ideology’ and ‘state’ in Jurisprudential studies. Under Marxism,[1] the concept of ideology has three meanings. These are:

(i) System of beliefs characteristic of a group or class.

(ii) A system of illusory beliefs, false ideas, false consciousness as opposed to true or scientific knowledge.

(iii) The general process of production of meanings and ideas.[2]

Marx asserts that ideologies justify or express the interests of the dominant classes. There is ‘false consciousness[3] and adoption by the subordinate classes (proletariats) of the dominant ideology. This is visible in today’s Uganda. The ruling class has come up with ideologies like ‘prosperity for all’ which are intended to hoodwink the peasant class and arouse false consciousness that the ruling power of the day is committed to the well-being and prosperity of the peasants. After elections, such ideological frameworks are shelved and never implemented until the next campaign period.

Marx adds that such false consciousness is the major obstacle to revolution. Until the proletariat develops class consciousness and demystifies the bourgeois ideological framework, there can be no revolution. This is indeed the picture in most countries in sub-Sahara Africa. For instance in Uganda, some argue that there can be no revolution because majority of the population (about 80%) are rural based peasants who have not formed any counter-ideology to demystify that of the National resistance Movement. No wonder, election results show that they are the support base of the ruling class and yet their hospitals, roads, schools and other social amenities are in a deplorable condition.

The above trend of events contrasts with North Africa (Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia) and the rest of the Arab world (like Syria) where literacy levels are higher, and the masses are able to interpret the latest trends of political ideology like democracy, representative Governments, free and fair elections and radically oppose and demystify the ruling class ideology of sharia Law, dynastic monarchies and Islamic conservatism.

Furthermore, all classes share in the system of belief imposed by the dominant class and there are institutions put in place by the ruling class to demystify and disseminate the ideology.[4]Indeed, this is visible in postmodern states like Uganda where there are ‘Leadership Training Schools’ like Kyankwanzi[5] and ‘ingando’, ‘amatoreero’ in Rwanda which disseminate Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) ideologies. Other initiatives in Uganda included chakamchaka which was all about demystifying the gun to enhance the militaristic ideology of the current establishment and dissemination of the NRM ideology of the ten-point programme.

Marx also opines that the dominant class has vast resources considerably greater than those of the subordinate classes, to bring its own weight on civil society and promote its ideology.[6] In Uganda, this was witnessed in 2005 when the ruling establishment was in the process of amending the National Constitution and delete term limits so as to enhance its stay in power.[7] Civil Society campaigns from the Uganda Law society, Anti-Corruption Coalition, and other agencies couldn’t yield much effort since the ruling class had vast resources and bribed Members of Parliament with a paltry Five (5) million shillings each and the sanctity of the Constitution was molested.

In another submission, Karl Marx is of the view that morality is a form of ideology. Indeed, the role of the church and religion (what he termed as the opiate of society) in politics of both pre-colonial and post-colonial Uganda is vivid. Some religious leaders have turned pulpits into ideological apparatuses. They preach to their prelates that respect of ruling authority and submission to their will is not only Godly, but also moral since all authority comes from God! This is done in isolation of the fact that the same God condemns corruption, sectarianism, tribalism, political persecution and other injustices meted out by the ruling class to those who are or may be perceived as being critical to their rule.

Such ideologies of the ruling class are spread through propaganda and the mass media. This is very vivid all over the world. Adolf Hitler used a lot of propaganda to enhance his Nazi ideologies. The impact of mass media in the United States of America presidential campaigns and the propaganda arising therefrom cannot be ignored! In Uganda, the ruling class spreads its ideology through ‘The New Vision’ and ‘Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Television’. Media houses like ‘The Daily Monitor’ and which appear critical of such ideological frameworks are shut down and their equipment confiscated as was the case in 2005 when Monitor was raided by State operatives and shut down. Journalists are not spared either. In Uganda, Andrew Mwenda, Charles Onyango Obbo, Timothy Kalyegira and others have been arrested and charged with cases ranging from criminal libel to publication of false news.[8]

The ‘state’ includes not just the executive and legislative branches of Government, but also the civil service, Local Government, the Judiciary, military and police. The ‘state system’ is an interaction of these institutions of power and authority.[9]Marx took a materialist view of the state and emphasized the gap between the state and civil society.[10] He viewed the state as an instrument of class oppression.[11] Indeed, the state has always been a committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie. For instance, in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, the ousted leaders were wealthier than the entire population. They held a firm grip of the economy and their families and cronies had multi-billion business deals struck with a lot of influence peddling, unfair advantage and in contravention of public bidding and procurement due process. In Uganda, budget supplements for State house and office of the Presidency to finance extravagant lifestyle and donations have been prioritized over the ailing health, education, transport and communication sectors. In France, at the time of the French revolution in 1789, King Louis XVI and Queen Marrie Antoinette were living very expensive lifestyles at the expense of the peasants and lower middle class who were chocking with numerous taxes! The above case studies justify Karl Marx’s observations and I associate myself with his submission.

Marx traced his origin of State to the division of labour and saw the state as in contradiction to the real interests of all members of society. One would be forgiven for thinking the same about Uganda’s ruling class. They seem to be more interested in acquiring the latest fighter jets to enhance their stay in power as opposed to tackling inflation, and other major economic reforms. As McLellan termed it, it is more of an illusory community serving as a screen for the real struggles waged by classes against each other[12]. As the common grass root peasant in Uganda is crying about the rise of commodity products like sugar, paraffin and salt, the ruling class is demanding for more supplementary budgets to spend on foreign trips and donations!

Another concern from Marx is the existence of a political organ at each stage of production which corresponded with that stage and supported the interest of the dominant class. The state also acts as an intermediary in the formation of all of all communal institutions and gives them a political form.[13]In Uganda today, the ruling class has put up such models. There are Local Councils at village, parish, and sub-county and district level. Some of their work overlaps and conflicts with that of Chief Administrative Officers, Resident District Commissioners and special presidential cadres. Such arrangements can also be traced in Kenya, Tanzania and many more African States. Some of the models are inherited from former colonial powers that had put them in place to subjugate and maximumly exploit Africa of her resources!

One fundamental observation of a Marxist State is the submission that sometimes, the state may not be representative of the whole of a ruling class, but only a section of that class. In Libya, Ghadaffi had appointed his sons notably Saif al Islam to run some of the State work. In Uganda, some argue that the current establishment is a dynastic politico-military clique of relatives, friends and in-laws from a certain part of the country and from one party which has been merged to the State.[14]

Colline Summer[15]notes that the law is an ideological form that is complex but not equally legalistic. It is a reflection of class inequality and expresses the ideologies of the dominant class. In Uganda today and across Africa, the Law concerning how the State should be run seems to be more of what the sovereign/ruling class wants. For instance, the proposed Law on Bail in Uganda, the Public Order and Management Bill, the Press Control Bill are all intended to gag those who may have dissenting opinions on how the State should be run and those who intend to show counter-ideologies to the same effect.

This school of thought also postulates that there is such an intense competition in challenging the political/regime hegemony that the state may assume authoritarian forms and free itself from constitutional checks and balances. This is the norm in developing democracies. For instance, in Zimbabwe, the media is vigorously cracked down and the constitutional right to freedom of expression and the media was usurped by the ruling regime.[16] In Uganda, the proposed bail amendment law targets political opponents in pressure groups like Activists for Change and intends to free the state from Constitutional constraints imposed under the civil rights of liberty and peaceful protest.

The Marxist State is also a source of status. Those holding powerful offices and positions express themselves in terms of ‘national interest’ and those seeking power also do so in the name of ‘public interest’. In Uganda Kenya, Zimbabwe, there is a thin line between the opposition and the ruling class in hiding under the cover of ‘national interest’. For instance, during the walk to work campaigns that marred Uganda in April, the opposition leaders argued that they were holding the same in public interest against soaring commodity prices and the state responded with brutal crackdown  in ‘national interest’ to maintain public peace, security and order. To Marx, the state is but a temporary phenomenon.[17]Revolution was inevitable and this would break the power of the state. Proletariat rule is linked to attainment of universal suffrage and win the battle of democracy.[18] In line with this observation, the Museveni-led Luwero bush war was about universal suffrage, restoration of democracy and free and fair elections.[19]The Arab spring protests and revolutions are a product of the same ideologies.

However, I disagree with Marx’s categorization of state function in terms of social class conflict. This is simplistic in approach and fails to treat the state as an autonomous structure with its own interests separate from those of the dominant class. States like Sweden have been built to be independent and more so, in today’s diverse society, there are other stratifications like race, an emerging new world order visible from trade blocs and regional integrations and the primitive society model even in Africa is being phased out by an upcoming elite young middle class.

In a nutshell, the Marxist State (composed of the ruling class) imposes its ideology on the subdued inferior classes and puts in place State apparatuses, most of which are oppressive, exploitative, coercive and repressive to achieve their own ends. It’s also immaterial whether such ideology is true or false, correct or incorrect or reasonable or unreasonable. What matters most is that it (the ideology) should be the dominant will of the ruling class.  Marx envisioned a period of revolutionary transformation as a result of a severe economic crisis. He seems to be of the view that the most ‘advanced’ industrial states should experience revolution first. Indeed, class struggles are being manifested in these states. For instance, some have argued that the August riots in London and the current ‘Occupy Wall Street’ campaign in the United States of America are class struggles between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ seeking answers to the current economic meltdown.  With the Arab spring uprisings acting as catalysts, only time will tell whether such revolutions against State and Ideology will spill in peasant-dominated Sub-Sahara Africa.

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[1] Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid-19^th Century by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Hengels (1820-1895). It is an economic, social and political worldview that is built on a materialistic view of history, a dialectic interpretation of social phenomena and critiques the development of Capitalism.

[2] See R. Williams; Marxism and Literature, 1977 and Lloyds Introduction to Jurisprudence, 8the Ed pg. 1140-1141

[3] Coined by Hegels

[4] Althuser; Ideology and ideological State Apparatuses in Lenin and Philosophy (1972) 1 Balbus (1977) Law and society Review, 571

[5] ‘The Spiritual home of the NRM’ and instructors like Kajabago Ka Rusoke who preach the NRM ideology.

[6] Lloyds, pg 1143

[7] Their ideology seemed to be that they did not come to power through ballot and Constitutional enactments, but rather by the barrel of the gun. President Museveni was later to affirm this by saying that he chased his animal and caught it, but other people want him to leave. He wondered how and where he should go!

[8] Publication of false news was outlawed in Andrew Mujuni Mwenda vs The Attorney General where section 50 of the Penal Code Act was rendered unconstitutional in a free and democratic society where freedom of expression ought to be upheld.

[9] Milliband, a student of Marx in ‘The State in Capitalist Society’ (1969) Chapter 3

[10] Lloyds, pg 1145

[11] See, The Communist Manifesto; Penguin ed: 1975 pg. 82

[12] McLellan; The Thought of Karl Marx (1971) pg 182

[13] Karl Marx; Grundrisse pg.48

[14] Olive Kobusingye; The Correct Line? Uganda Under Museveni

[15] In ‘Reading Ideologies: An Investigation into Marxist Theory of Ideology and Law’ cited in Omony John Paul: Key Issues in Jurisprudence, 1^st Ed Law Africa

[16] Refer to the Mark Gova Chavunduka case

[17] Lloyds pg. 1153

[18] Communist Manifesto, pg 102

[19] See Regime Hegemony in Museveni’s Uganda, Y K Museveni; Sowing the Mustard Seed, Macmillan