I came across this book and started reading it for no particular reason and I have to say that this is one of the more exciting books on all things Marxist and legal theory. This review does a great job of presenting the issues:
In this cloistered atmosphere, Michael Head’s book, Evgeny Pashukanis, A Critical Reappraisal, shines the light of day on one of the most important legal theories to come out of “the boldest and most sweeping experiment of the 20th century”—the October 1917 Russian Revolution. Head is a law professor at the University of Western Sydney in Australia and a regular contributor to the World Socialist Web Site.
Prior to the revolution, as now, the “rule of law” routinely put its seal of approval on economic exploitation, political repression and state murder. Upon seizing power, the Soviet government disposed of the previous courts, legal system and legal profession in its effort to radically refashion society and facilitate the ultimate “withering away” of the state.
Read the whole thing here.