Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Revolution 1880-1938This first modern study provides an original and balanced perspective of a theorist whom Lenin referred to as both ‘master of Marxism’ and ‘renegade’. Examining Kautsky’s political thought over a period stretching from the Paris Commune to the Second World War, the author argues for the consistency with which Kautsky developed his positions on socialism, democracy, political parties and the role of the proletariat. While Salvadori’s analysis is grounded in the debates within the Communist International and the German labour movement, Kautsky emerges as a distinctly modern thinker who produced a Marxist theory of the state, and originated critique of the USSR as a ‘state capitalist’ system. At this level, it provides a serious and measured exposition of the terms on which arguments for socialist strategy currently move. |
Contents
The Guarantees of History | 20 |
Against Staatssozialismus and Von Vollmar | 41 |
The Fight against Revisionism | 48 |
20 | 55 |
41 | 63 |
2 | 86 |
3 | 105 |
The Road to Power | 115 |
World War Imperialism the Russian | 181 |
The Birth of the USPD | 203 |
For a Peace without Annexations | 215 |
The German Revolution and the Struggle | 226 |
For the Unity of Social Democracy | 245 |
The Ideological Crusade against Bolshevism | 251 |
The Class Character of the USSR | 294 |
Fascism and Democracy | 340 |
The Genesis of Kautskys Centrism | 133 |
The 1912 Elections and the New Liberalism | 146 |
The Defence of the Parliamentary Road Against | 152 |
Biographical Note | 369 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adler analysis asserted attitude basis Bebel become Bernstein Bolsheviks Bolshevism bourgeois bourgeoisie bureaucracy capitalist capitalist development class struggle coalition Communists conflict Congress conquest constituted contradictions countries crisis declared defence democratic republic dictatorship Die Neue Zeit economic elections electoral Erfurt Programme exploitation fascism favour finance capital forces German Social Democracy Germany goal historical Ibid ideological imperialism imperialist industrial inevitable Karl Kautsky Kautsky argued Kautsky held Kautsky maintained Kautsky wrote Kautsky's labour Lenin majority Marx Marxist mass political strike mass strike Mensheviks military movement necessary Neue opposition organization Pannekoek parliament parliamentary Parteitag peace peasants polemic political democracy position possible production proletariat question radicals reactionary reforms régime represented revisionism revisionists revolutionary road Rosa Luxemburg ruling class Russia Russian Revolution Social Democracy society Soviet Sozialdemokratie strategy strength task theoretical tion trade-union Trotsky ultra-imperialism unions unity USPD victory violence Vorwärts vote workers