German Social Democracy: Reform or Revolution?

  1. The emergence of a single working-class party in Germany by 1875

  2. The SPD's Adoption of a Marxist programme 

  3. The Roots and Significance of Revisionism

  4. The Politics of the SPD before 1914

Issues for Discussion

  1. Why did the SPD adopt a revolutionary Marxist programme in 1891?

  2. What were the roots and significance of the Revisionist movement within the SPD before the War?

  3. Should the SPD be categorised as a revolutionary party or a reformist one before 1914?

 

Reading:

Secondary -

Albert Lindemann, A History of European Socialism, pp101-105 (up to 1875), pp134-138 (on the adoption of Marxism), pp150-154, pp177-180 (on the Revisionist controversy)

Dick Geary, Labour and Socialist Movements in Europe before1914

  • Dick Geary, "Socialism and the German Labour Movement before 1914" 

Gary P Steenson, "Not One Man! Not One Penny!” German Social Democracy, 1863-1914, ch6 “Theory and Intellectuals”, [on Kautsky, Bernstein and Luxemburg] [Book in the Library - 324.423.S814n]

Explanatory notes on the Ideological divisions within the SPD [Read!]

Primary -

SPD, The Erfurt Programme (1891)

Albert Fried and Ronald Sanders (eds), Socialist Thought. A Documentary History

  • Eduard Bernstein, “Evolutionary Socialism”, pp425-434 or an online extract here

  • Karl Kautsky, “The Road to Power”, pp435-440

Karl Kautsky, The Social Revolution (1908)

 

Questions on your reading:

Eduard Bernstein, “Evolutionary Socialism”

  1. How does Bernstein argue that Marx’s predictions in the Communist Manifesto were mistaken?

  2. On what grounds does Bernstein reject demands for the revolutionary seizure of power?

  3. What does Bernstein mean by his statement that “the movement means everything for me and that what is usually called 'the final aim of socialism' is nothing”

Karl Kautsky, The Social Revolution 

  1. How does Kautsky distinguish between social reform and social revolution?

  2. On what grounds does Kautsky reject arguments that the economic conditions of the proletariat are improving?

  3. On what grounds does he argue that democracy cannot achieve real transformation for the working class?

  4. What, on the other hand, is the value of democracy for the working class?

Return to Home Page