LE IS POSSIBLE TO RECONCILIATE MARXISM WITH KELSEN?

THE PROPOSAL OF OSCAR CORREAS

Abstract

Oscar Correas was an Argentine-Mexican jurist who sought to reconciliate Hans Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law with the marxist theory of Law and the State. Unlike other authors of critical theories of law who tried to deny the basis of kelsenian theory, Correas sought to make a critical interpretation not only of Kelsen's work, but also of Marx, Engels, Pachukanis, Gramsci and other marxist theorists. The present article intends to analyze - in the same critical way as Correas - his interpretation of the kelsenian theory, which led him to identify “another Kelsen”, very different from the conceptions defended by the majority of self-proclaimed “kelsenian” jurists. From this “other Kelsen”, we analyze the mediations that Correas establishes between the kelsenian theory and the marxist theory of Law, Politics and the State. Based on these approaches, the article assesses the possibilities but also the limits of the proposed reconciliation between Kelsen and the Marxists, treated as challenges for a renewal of the Legal Criticism.

Keywords: Oscar Correas; Legal Criticism; Hans Kelsen; marxist theory of law; critical theories of law.