Social Class and the Definition of Crime

Abstract

James Petras (1977) has analyzed bourgeois crimes that destabilized and then destroyed the democratic Chilean government.1 He noted that these crimes were essentially class crimes and hence that no single group or groups acted [alone] to bring Allende down’. By distinguishing the ‘three step flow’ of organizations, events and criminal engagements, preparing the way for the fascist seizure of power, Petras performs a service for radical criminology.2 His article also affirms certain historical generalizations. First, the struggle for socialism is confronted inevitably with counter-revolutionary bourgeois violence. Second, in light of the Chilean experience, reliance on bourgeois legality to defend socialist achievements is suicidal.

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