Pēteris Ivanovich Stučka
Пётр Иванович Стучка
Architect of Soviet Marxist legal theory who defined law as class relations
'Law is a system, an order of social relations which corresponds to the interests of the ruling class and is maintained by the organized power of this class, the state.' (The Revolutionary Role of Law and the State)
Latvian jurist and revolutionary. Born 14 (26) July 1865 in Koknese volost, Riga district, Livonia province, he died in Moscow on 25 January 1932 and his ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall. With Rainis he led the Latvian Marxist 'New Current' and the newspaper Dienas Lapa, was arrested in 1897 and after seven months' imprisonment exiled for five years to Vyatka province. As People's Commissar of Justice after October he co-authored Decree on Courts No. 1, laying the foundation of Soviet justice, headed the Latvian Soviet government (1918–1920) and served as first chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Court from 1923 until his death.
Career timeline
- 1883–1888Graduated Riga Gymnasium and St. Petersburg University law faculty; became sworn attorney's assistant
- 1888–1897Led Latvian Marxist 'New Current' movement and newspaper Dienas Lapa with Rainis
- 1897–1903Arrested, 7 months imprisonment then 5 years exile in Vyatka; co-authored satirical collection Little Gadflies
- 1906Joined RSDLP; chaired unification congress of Latvian SD Party, which became territorial part of RSDLP
- 1917.10–11Liaison with Latvian Riflemen at Smolny; chaired Petrograd MRC investigative commission; as People's Commissar of Justice co-authored Decree on Courts No. 1
- 1918–1920RSFSR People's Commissar of Justice and deputy Narkom of Foreign Affairs; head of Latvian Soviet government (Dec 1918–Jan 1920)
- 1923–1932First chairman of RSFSR Supreme Court; chairman, Comintern International Control Commission (1924); editor-in-chief, Encyclopedia of State and Law (1925–1927); director, Institute of Soviet Law (1931)