About the legal side of universal “quarantine”

Having met passive resistance from working people against “quarantine” and house arrest up until now, the fascists threaten us with emergency measures, i.e. implementing “the state of emergency” in big cities and in the whole country. Obviously, such regimen will allow the fascists to carry on the behest of the Tsar’s general Trepov who famously said “Do not spare bullets!”

Of course, it’s best to fight the fascist emergency with our own proletarian emergency, we have to respond to the fascist white terror by implementing red terror. But we’re not quite there yet.

What should workers do here and now? Many people still have sacred trust in the bourgeois law. They believe that since it is written in an official document, therefore, all citizens of the state must comply, and above all the authorities. But if that’s the case, then let millions of our citizens ask each other a few questions and answer them.

1. On what legal grounds have we been put under arrest (be it a house arrest, or getting locked up in a hospital, jail, etc.)?

2. On what legal grounds have we been forbidden to move around freely within our own country, region, city?

3. On what legal grounds are citizens getting fined, arrested and dragged into police stations – just because those citizens are trying to have a normal social life and a normal human life?

4. On what legal grounds have we been forbidden to meet and communicate with people whom we want to meet and communicate with?

5. On what legal grounds have the authorities limited the free will of citizens, if, according to the constitution, it is exactly these citizens in their totality that are the only source of power in the country?

And also, on what grounds do the authorities instruct the citizens to do not what the citizens consider it necessary to do, but what a tiny group of individuals consider necessary – namely, the financial capital and the state elite?

The special part of any bourgeois constitution lists and sloppily clarifies the fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen. For example, it officially says that the people are the only source of power. And then it specifies that the people exercise their power directly, as well as through all sorts of public authorities.

The bourgeoisie immediately stipulates that the seizure of power or the appropriation of power is unacceptable and constitutes a crime.

Let us summarize. The constitution clearly states that the people, i.e. the vast majority of the population, meaning the working people (the working class and other workers), is the only source of power in the country.

The people exercise their power without intermediaries, i.e. directly and with their own hands. And only secondarily they use all sorts of public authorities for their purposes. It’s written down by the bourgeoisie themselves.

They further write that the seizure of power is unacceptable, that this is a crime. Here, the bourgeoisie are of course talking about the common people, i.e. us, workers and laborers. But how can those who hold all the power in all its entirety and who are the only source of the power, somehow seize it and, by doing it, commit a crime? That is absurd.

This means that the bourgeoisie are lying in their own constitution. But the thing is that the pen is mightier than the sword. If the words about the complete power of the people are written in the main law of the country, which no other law, act, decision, decree, order, decree, etc. can contradict, then it means that the people have the full constitutional right and are obliged to fulfill the norms which are written in the constitution. In other words, they must become the full power in their country. As for the above-mentioned teeny-tiny group of private individuals – the oligarchs and the top government officials – they must be brought to justice as criminals, usurpers of power.

And you can’t argue with this legally, because this is what is written in the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation.

And if this is what is written there, then the workers and laborers are obliged, with all their mass and strength, to force all citizens of the country to strictly comply with the most important constitutional norms. After all, do we all agree that the main provisions of the constitution must be fully complied? Yes, we do. And the authorities have been banging on about it for years.

So, isn’t it the time for the people to carry out the “prosecutorial oversight” of the current state power – for a start – and find out how strictly all of these presidents, ministers, deputies, peers, sirs and other f… fulfill the special part of the constitution?

Moving further. The foundations of the current bourgeois constitution of the Russian Federation indicate that a person, their rights and freedoms are the highest value, that the observance and protection of these rights and freedoms is the duty of the state. And it also says that no other provisions of the constitution and laws can contradict what is written in the foundations of the constitutional system.

What does this mean legally – in our case? This means that if the government infringes so much as one millimeter of the rights and freedoms of the working people, it immediately becomes a state criminal and is subject to eradication by the source and bearer of all state power.

Moving further. The foundations of bourgeois constitutions indicate that if laws or regulations affecting the rights and freedoms of citizens are not published, then such laws and acts are invalid.

What does that mean? Today, the fascist state imprisoned and robbed civil rights and freedoms of tens of millions of citizens. It motivated these crimes with an “epidemic” of the coronavirus. The fascists probably have a law according to which the authorities must act in an epidemic or other dangerous situation. But the application of this law must be substantiated, proven and motivated. In other words, the epidemic – the fact that it actually exists in our homes – all this must be scientifically proven, confirmed by indisputable and reliable facts, summarized in investigation materials and become publicly available for people to review.

Is there scientific evidence for the state of epidemic today? Have any of the claims concerning the epidemic been confirmed by hard facts? Have any scientific materials about the nature and development of the epidemic been published? Are there any accurate statistics or any accurate picture of the disease caused by this virus on a national, regional or district scale?

There is no data. Then on what grounds does the government apply emergency measures and repeal the main constitutional rights and freedoms of the people? The interpretation and application of any law must be in accordance with the constitution. Otherwise, the power that arbitrarily and spontaneously applies this or that law, automatically becomes illegal, criminal.

In any bourgeois state all rights and freedoms of man and citizen are officially recognized and guaranteed. The list of these rights and freedoms has been maintained by the bourgeoisie since the time of the French Revolution and the bourgeois revolution in the United States. These rights and freedoms cannot be repealed and belong to every person from birth. All these rights and freedoms are directly applicable, i.e. their implementation does not require any permission, approval, decree, order, etc. The bourgeoisie itself officially declares that civil democratic rights and freedoms fully and completely determine the essence and letter of all the laws of the state, determine the meaning of the activities of the authorities and are strictly ensured by state justice.

What are these rights and freedoms? They are, for example:

1. The right to life. The imperialists and the working class understand this right differently. When governments in every way broadcast that their main goal in the “fight against coronavirus” is to “save the lives and health of citizens”, they want to tell the people something completely different. Fascists from the top elites make it clear to workers and other laborers that life in shackles inside a concentration camp is still better than death. The fascists warned that the working people must remain humbler than dust while under “quarantine” and silently endure the poverty and bullying, otherwise they would start shooting at the people and deprive them of their right to life.

The working people, the source of power and the only legitimate owner of the country, understand the constitutional right to life as the right to a normal, proper human life for all who work and live honestly. A legal question arises: whose understanding of the right to life carries more weight – 0.3% of the country’s population or 95% of its population (workers)?

The legal answer is as follows. There are three types of majority: simple, qualified, and absolute. 95% of the country’s population is an absolute majority, which has the full and exclusive right to establish its own rules and laws, organize life as it sees best fit, and put its priority above all other priorities.

And since the bourgeoisie itself recognizes that its constitution is an expression of the will of the people, i.e. the absolute majority of the country’s population, therefore all the rights of the people recorded in the constitution are legally understood in a manner which most suits the people. Including the right to life.

Therefore, the people are obliged at least to gather urgently in large groups and demand a report from the authorities about the infringes on the normal life of workers.

2. The right to protect the honor and dignity of the individual. If millions of people without any reason are ordered to wear muzzles in the form of masks, if they are forbidden to meet relatives and friends, then this is a violation of the honor and dignity of the person. If a group of armed fascists, without any reason, detains workers on the streets and asks where they are going, what they are doing, who allowed them to leave their homes this is a humiliation of human honor and dignity. This is a gross violation of the constitution.

3. The right to liberty and security of person. This right means that any arrest, detention, any restriction of freedom can only be permitted by court order. Prior to a court order, a citizen cannot be detained or restricted for more than 48 hours.

Now let millions of our citizens ask the authorities the following questions:

A) Where are the court decisions on house arrests?

B) On what grounds is freedom of citizens limited?

C) On what legal grounds are citizens barred from freedom of movement and stay after 48 hours of house arrest (if, for a moment, we ignore the criminal nature of this arrest)?

Let the authorities answer these questions.

4. Every citizen has the right to inviolability of his personal life, to personal and family secrets, to the protection of his honor and good name. But today, the fascist authorities have forced their way into the lives of millions of families. They have destroyed the natural way of family and personal life of our people. They have declared almost all the people sick and infected. Who gave these authorities the right to destroy the lives of our people? Who gave them the right to humiliate the honor and dignity of millions of working people by indiscriminately classifying them as sick and infected and, therefore, dangerous to society? (By the way, what kind of society, if the whole society is under arrest?)

5. Every citizen who is legally located in a particular country has every right to move around freely, choose any place of stay, residence, rest, etc. (except for those territories that, for industrial or defense reasons, pose a threat to citizens).

But if our people, the source and the bearer of all power, are in their own country, then why do they allow a handful of private individuals to use the constitution as toilet paper, put them on a chain and muzzle them? Let our citizens ask each other this question each and every hour – until all the absurdity and abnormality of the situation really hits home.

6. All citizens have the full right to free association in all kinds of unions, public organizations, etc. groups that citizens create to protect or realize their vital interests. At the same time, the bourgeoisie in its constitution is committed to protecting the freedom of activity of public organizations and unions in every way.

What does that mean? This constitutional provision means that all of us, citizens, workers, laborers, pensioners, small entrepreneurs, students can freely meet with each other, gather in any suitable place and in any composition and discuss our national affairs, agree on joint actions, establish unions, associations, groups and cells. We can stay in these places whenever we need and for however long we need, since we are at our home and at the same time do not violate the rights and freedoms of our brothers – other workers who are at this moment engaged in production or other affairs. That’s all, the constitution does not give any other restrictions on gathering, meetings, unions and organization procedures.

But then on what grounds did a handful of public agents, officially employed by the people, forbid the people to gather where they want, whenever they want, and for whatever reason they want? Is this not an attempt on the foundations of the constitutional system by a group of individuals?

It is precisely that, a state crime committed by an organized group of persons by prior conspiracy in order to destroy the foundations of the constitutional system. In most bourgeois countries such crimes are punishable by law as an act of treason.(However, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation are keeping mum, bought and sold by a bunch of oligarchs!)

The freedom of movement and location is once again confirmed by the constitutional provision that all citizens have every right to gather peacefully, to hold rallies, meetings, demonstrations, marches, pickets, etc.

But today, contrary to the constitution, the fascist government forbade workers to even approach each other. And on what legal grounds did they forbid it?

Here, the fascists can refer to the provision of the bourgeois constitution, which stipulates that the rights and freedoms of man and citizen can be limited by law to the extent that it is necessary to protect the foundations of the constitutional system, health, rights and legitimate interests of others, to ensure state defense and security.

But it is in the fundamentals of the constitutional order that human rights and freedoms are the highest value, protected and ensured by all the power of the state. And no other provisions of the constitution or any laws can contradict these foundations. That’s number one.

Number two, if we look at the current imperialist scheme with the acute respiratory infection, then none of the governments have scientifically proven or confirmed with indisputable facts the need for any “epidemic” restrictions in connection with this virus. All we have is worldwide hollering on television, constant fearmongering aimed at philistines and unfounded statements by ministers. There is a clear threat of reprisal against those who soberly assess the situation and explain it to other people. We have all of that, but there is no legal ground even by bourgeois standards for the slightest reduction of civil rights and freedoms.

I can safely say that the bourgeoisie is always above its own laws. It discards them as soon as they become unprofitable or inconvenient. So what is the point of talking about the implementation of the constitution, then?

Fair enough. The bourgeoisie does as it pleases, in spite of all its laws.

Because there is a weapon in its hands – armed forces, which gives it power over unarmed people, because they do not yet have their own army and their own police, their own armed forces. But the bourgeoisie acts this way until, in response, it is confronted by the resistance of the workers and the rest of the oppressed working people. And the more massive, strong, and organized such resistance is, the more difficult it is for capitalists and fascists to commit atrocities. Just as an individual owner of a factory often retreats under the pressure of a general strike of his workers, so the fascist state can backtrack and make conciliations if tens of thousands of workers are organized against it. Fascists are powerless against organized millions of workers.

Another point is that the fascists really hate it when, at each step, citizens demand the implementation of the bourgeois-democratic and labour laws. When a single person demands it, it does not frighten the fascists yet, but angers them and makes them lunge at such people with great force. But when the fulfillment of the necessary laws is demanded by 10, 50 or 100 workers at once, even if they have organized spontaneously and for a short time, this forces the fascist patrol to retreat. When thousands and thousands of organized citizens demand the fulfillment of the democratic law, then the government can only either retreat or order to shoot at people.

But the bourgeoisie realizes that every bullet fired at the workers will turn into a cannon shell and fly right back at them. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the police and the army will shoot at their own people, whom they are a part of. Therefore, the bourgeoisie is trying to maneuver, hiding behind “epidemics”, “concern for the lives of citizens”, etc.

In a situation when far from all working people are ready for an open revolutionary struggle, millions of democratic “legalists”, so to say “American lawyers”, will come in handy.

They, these millions of our citizens, the small servants, small entrepreneurs, most of the intelligentsia, students, etc. – they may well respond to every word of the newly-arrived fascists with an article from the constitution or a useful law prohibiting fascist attacks.

These citizens of ours, after each unlawful requirement or action from the authorities, may naturally want to reach for each other and together demand specific legal grounds, numbers and paragraphs of articles that unambiguously and not indirectly confirm the right of the authorities to somehow infringe on the rights and freedoms of citizens. If this type of behavior of millions of our people becomes a political “epidemic” in the country, when citizens are ready to scream bloody murder and scratch out eyes at even the slightest hint of infringement of constitutional rights, then the fascists will find themselves in a hot spot.

There is an element of the broad democratic organization of the masses here. Current fascists can kill or jail one and raid ten citizens. But when the common interest of the struggle for violated rights and freedoms, even if it first appeared in legal form, helps to unite millions, unite the population of big cities and throw the struggle for democracy (which is like gasping for air) into the streets, – that’s when the fascists and their servants will be the ones who have to hide and babble with fear.

In order to deprive the working people of the formal legal right to freedom and democracy, the financial capital of the Russian Federation and the head of its government must rewrite the constitution, removing all the articles and provisions that are “inconvenient” for them. Preparations for the “rewrite” of the fundamental law are taking place today before our eyes – it’s those “zeroing the term clock” amendments, in which the “zeroing” is not at all the most important change.

The very fact of the complete fascization of the constitution suggests that the financial oligarchy and its state clerks feel unstable, like a balancer on a tightrope. When the house of the bourgeoisie catches on fire, nothing will stop them, least of all such a trifling, trivial matter, as the constitution.

But this is not enough. The capitalists are trying to twist things around and make it look as if the people themselves rewrote the constitution, as if they personally abandoned their power in favor of a handful of parasites and criminals. Tomorrow, after intimidating and confusing the people, putting them under arrest, they will adopt whatever amendments they need. And then what? How should workers feel about this sort of constitution?

Whereas previously the constitution and some bourgeois laws were, at least partially and formally, supportive of us, the redrafted constitution will become three times as alien and antagonistic towards the working people as before. Finally, it will legally and formally position itself at the extreme opposite end from the proletarian class and will openly lead an entire collection of anti-worker fascist laws of the state.

In the current constitution and laws there are parts that are useful and necessary for the working people, which you can and should grab onto.

This made it possible to use these articles and paragraphs in the legal class struggle against the bourgeoisie. On this basis, workers generally recognized the existing constitution of the Russian Federation and individual laws and demanded that the government implement them. You could say that this constitution was at least a tiny bit “ours”.

In the redrafted constitution, there won’t be any or hardly any of such useful and necessary parts. Clinging to the letter of individual articles will be made impossible or very difficult, because deputies and other doormats of capital will phrase them in the most vague way that will allow any interpretation in favor of the bourgeoisie.

Given that the amendments are initiated by the oligarchy, and the author of specific texts is the haute bourgeoisie, this means that such constitution will be completely “theirs”. It cannot be recognized by working masses, just as the fascist verdict condemning the revolutionary workers cannot be recognized.

But how could this be? One moment the Communists urge the working people to go with the law, another moment they urge them to go against it. Exactly. Since laws express a concentrate of social relations, each class must comply only with those laws that meet its class interests. If the interests of the proletariat and other workers were met by a number of articles in the current constitution and laws of the Russian Federation, the proletariat recognized these articles. If there are no such articles in the laws, then why would the working class recognize something that its enemy invented, something that does not grant the workers anything and is directed completely against the workers?

There are no “random” laws, but there are instances when the ruling class forces other classes to fulfill its laws. Now the bourgeoisie is forcing us to fulfill its will, reflected in its laws. But, firstly, it is forcing the absolute majority of the people to dance to its tune, while they wish it would just stick its damn tunes where the sun don’t shine, and, secondly, it’s beating and starving us into it. This cannot last long, a bug making an elephant turn and dance like that.

Let our citizens, now sitting under fascist arrest, think about how insulting it is to be an elephant ordered around by a fat stink bug. And wouldn’t it be better to put everything in its place, where it belongs: a bug in a bughole, an elephant – in open spaces where it can roam around freely.

MLLM “Work Way”