ABSTRACT
The issue in question is the use of state power – how it should be used in theory, and how it has been used in reality. This question is raised, to a large extent, as a review of an historic event in China that saw incredible suffering endured by the people under a state power that claimed to be the servant of people, but enjoyed a monopoly that was both buttressed by and above the law. This phenomenon is referred to as ‘power totality’, the definition of which will be given later in this chapter. Power totality is a problem for several reasons. There are many theoretical criteria we can use to indicate that power totality is problematic. The first such criterion is Marx’s vision in Marxist theory, which clearly challenges a state power without constraints. The second criterion used in this argument is the individual’s right to reason and protection. The lack of such protection leads to the next question of law: can or should law protect people in a socialist state? It is sometimes argued that law became a part of the problem rather than the solution because it lacked the authority required under the system of power totality. There were other factors besides the law that contributed to the debate about power monopoly: as an historic underdevelopment of power check and human rights; as a cultural concept of authority in a feudal tradition, and as an economic necessity for a centralized government.
