<p>Within the renewed interest in Marxist legal critique, one topic has remained largely underdiscussed: the withering away of law and the state thesis. The strongest formulation of the withering away thesis was developed by Evgeny Pashukanis. Starting from his discovery of a structural connection between capitalist social relations and the form of law, he concludes that the overcoming of capitalism must entail the sublation of the legal form as well. This assertion has been highly contested, from authors both that oppose and that support the Marxist critique of law. This paper paves the way for a renewal of the withering away thesis by proposing a critical analysis and a systematisation of the arguments that have been directed against it into three categories: the anomic argument; the political argument; and the normative argument. While the first two categories can be refuted noting the implications of the historicity of the legal form, the normative argument poses a significant challenge for the withering away thesis. The paper therefore concludes signalling further paths for research into the alternative futures of law in a post-capitalist society. Specifically, it points to the need to connect the critique of law with a Marxian ethics.</p>