Prospects of development of law and state in post-socialist Russia are analyzed in the context of the socialist perspective. The article develops ideas of academican V.S. Nersesyants that socialism has created preconditions for transition to a different social order, providing a new stage in the development of legal principle of formal equality. This potential development was not used in post-socialist Russia. Non-legal nature of privatization of our common socialist legacy has generated a fusion of neo-feudal power and property, not only blocking movement for a just law and legal state, but amounting to return to capitalism. In the current environment, prospects of advancement of Russia in the legal direction are associated with the development of civil society, ensuring real political competition and the legitimization of property by the social contract between main beneficiaries of privatization and the rest of society.