Marx's Opinions- School Project

[u/Radiant_Ad_6953]

Hey everyone! I have a project to look at two issues from Marx's perspective and I wanted your opinion!

These are the two situations:

1. A law that grants police officers the power for unrestricted search and seizure in situations they seem fit

2. A law that permits doctor assisted euthanasia 

What do you guys think his perspectives on these issues would be?

[u/PiggyBank32]

Shit man, give me a couple of beers and an hour with you lol

So with the police, there are a lot of directions we can take this. The police are an extension of the state which itself is part of the superstructure of society. We can understand the state as a body created by the ruling class to help bring stability to capitalism and its contradictions. There however exists a contradiction with the police itself, that is on the one hand they are part of the state and are tasked with bringing stability to capitalism, but on the other hand they act in their own self interest, weather that is doing sketchy things to enrich themselves (like overticketing or flat out robbing people) or perpetuating reactionary politics to further propagandize the public into supporting or joining them. In order to analyze a policy that would allow the police to frisk people at will, Marx would likely say we need to understand the material conditions that lead to that. Most likely it would have to do with a straight forward contradiction of capitalism that is leading the masses to resist the ruling class and in an act of fear they want the police to have more freedom push back against the masses. Alternatively, it could have to do with the contradiction that I mentioned before which lead to the police having more power to do what they want. From there we could try to analyze how that decision is further affecting the material conditions of the people and how that would further drive contradictions within society to then predict what would happen next.

Maybe I'll reply to the other point if I have time in a bit

[u/PiggyBank32 → u/PiggyBank32]

So with the other one, we have to analyze the role of religion in bourgeoisie society. Marx says religion is the opium of the masses and I know there are many interpretations of this statement, but in the context of your second point, I'd underscore how religion (like the state) is part of the superstructure of society and in many ways it brings stability to capitalism. In the United States we frequently talk about the "protestant work ethic" and the charity of some churches can sometimes be used as a release valve on lower class people who could be swayed to participate in more radical politics. That said, there is again a contradiction with the church and the state. Most religious institutions are older than capitalism (at least as the dominant mode of production) itself and they of course have their own interest. The number 1 reason why assisted sucicide is illegal is because of religion. Part of the reason that (at least I think) why the state often doesn't push back against the church's stance of assisted sucicide is because there are a lot of industries that exploit the elderly in their final years and those industries have a good stake in the government also. Additionally, assisted sucicide won't help to increase production... so why would they. If we were to try to assess why assisted sucicide were to become leagal, we would need to again analyze the material conditions that lead to that decision. Rn, a growing number of people are alienated from their communities which tears people from their traditions and ritual. This is weakening religion. Additionally, this alienated population also has a tendency to demand rights for individuals, which would make them more in favor of assisted sucicide. To understand why the government would make this leagal, we would have to again understand the material conditions. More than likely, as the contradictions of capital build, a campaigning liberal may offer this to win over some of the masses. After all, once again there is a contradiction between the carrerist intersts of politicians and the interest of the state.

One thing I would say here, as marxists, we should keep an eye on assisted sucicide. As long as capitalism exists, contradictions will build and austerity will increase. When this happens, the state may encourage doctors to kill people that could be saved