On Marx And Engels Thought, Of International Law

By digging and arranging Marx and Engels'thought of international law, this dissertation aims to enrich Marxism study on international law theory and provide practical guidance for China to develop external relations, participate in international affairs and propel international law to develop along the track of equity and justice.Besides the introduction, the main body of this dissertation is composed of four parts:The first part concerns the history of development of Marx and Engels'thought of international law, which elaborates the process during which Marx and Engels'thought of international law formed and developed. Marx and Engels'thought of international law formed out of the call of the time: The bourgeoisie exploited and enslaved the proletariat internationally; European big powers invaded and plundered underdeveloped nations and states barbarously; international law was despised in relations among big and strong states, all the above made Marx and Engels go on a road leading to equity and justice for the benefit of the weak and make the authority and dignity of international law be defended effectively. The formation of Marx and Engels'thought of international law is also closely connected with the theoretical foundation: from pioneers such as Grotius and Vattel, to the legal literatures produced in French revolution and Europe and America, to international lawyers in Marx and Engels'era such as Phillimore, Walker, Kent and Wheaton. These international law scholars'passion in pursuing peace and their rigidity in protecting equity and justice became important nutrition sources for the formation and development of Marx and Engels' thought of international law. It was just in the call of the era and with the nourishment of the thought of the above international lawyers that Marx and Engels'thought of international law developed and was matured gradually. On the whole, the development of Marx and Engels'thought of international law experienced three phases: the period before February, 1848 is the first phase, during which Marx and Engels'thought of international law was germinated; The second phase involves the period from February,1848 to September, 1864,during which Marx and Engels'thought of international law was elaborated quite frequently; The third phase involves the period from September, 1864 to August,1895,during which Marx and Engels'thought of international law deepened.The second part introduces the basic viewpoints in Marx and Engels'thought of international law, which mainly includes the appearance of modern international law, the function and effect of international law, and principles of international law. Marx and Engels'elaboration of law shows that law has no its own history, that when studying legal essence and the reason law was created, we can't deviate from social economic and politic life and begin our research from law itself. This viewpoint of Marx and Engels can also be applied to the analysis on the formation of modern international law, because the appearance of nation states with independent sovereignty prepared political condition for the formation of modern international law, and universal contact as the result of transnational development of economy constituted a very important driving force for the birth of international law. In Marx and Engels'opinion, the reason that the function and effect of international law couldn't worked satisfactorily lied in the fact that European powers conducted willfully in pursuing their respective interests. Directing against this situation, Marx wrote a series of articles attacking European powers'illegal international behavior and revealing the function and effect that international law ought to possess during this period: apply international law to keep normal relations among states, to regulate western powers'international behavior, to support national liberation movement and to create new international order. With the revival of international labor movement, Marx and Engels put forward a series of international law principles for future international relations: national independence, peace, morality and justice, international cooperation and peaceful solution of international disputes.The third part involves concrete elaboration of Marx and Engels'ideas in different branch of international law. This section includes the following issues: international treaty law, foreign relations law, law of war, international protection of human rights and territory change. For the issue of international treaty law, Marx and Engels stressed the principle that treaty must be observed through analyzing Britain's attitude toward"Defense Treaty"signed in 1700 between Britain and Sweden, and made clear the issues of conclusion and validity of treaty through analyzing the effect of"Paris Manifesto"signed in 1856. As for foreign relations law, Marx and Engels reiterate the principle that diplomatic representatives shouldn't interfere internal affairs of the country to which they are accredited, and pay much attention to the role of foreign relations law in protecting the interests of nationals overseas. In terms of law of war, Marx and Engels criticized the violent behavior of no declaration of war, proposed to carry out humanitarianism principle in war, confirmed that law of war takes precedence over law of peace, and considered it to be legitimate that the oppressed nation counterattacks invaders with non-conventional means. For the issue of territory change, Marx and Engels held that the change of territory should follow the principle of people's sovereignty. The fourth part mainly elaborates the historical and practical significance of Marx and Engels'thought of international law. The historical significance lies in the class interests Marx and Engels represented and the value object of equity and justice they pursued. First, Marx and Engels'thought of international law made complete human liberation as its final goal, which is consistent with the development trend of world history. Second, the extension of international law applicable scope made by Marx and Engels', together with the original opinions they put forward against several international norms and regulations, enriched and developed international law theory of the era. Third, Marx and Engels'thought of international law propelled the development of labor movement, which constrained considerably European powers'reactionary foreign policy. Marx and Engels'thought of international law has great practicable significance, because the situation of formulation and observation of international law in the context of globalization, compared with that in Marx and Engels'era ,hasn't changed substantively. Practicable significance of Marx and Engels'thought of international law can be understood from two aspects: Theoretically, criticalness, class nature and economic analysis method embodied in Marx and Engels'thought of international law should become an important tool and method for Chinese scholars to improve the development of Chinese international legal science. In practice, a series of principles Marx and Engels emphasized or put forward such as national sovereignty, national independence, peace and so on, hasn't been obsolete, they still have great guiding sense. Marx and Engels'thought of international law, which aims to protect the interests of weak nations and states shows that international norms and regulations must reflect the developing countries'benefit request, that developing countries including China should unite as one so as to adopt plans to their advantage in the formulation of international norms.