Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate, 1896-1898

This is an anthology in English translation of the major texts concerned with the nineteenth-century debates between democratic socialism and revolutionary Marxism. The central figure is Eduard Bernstein, a leading German social democrat and former associate of Engels, who argued that Marx’s analysis of society had been overtaken by events, and that his doctrine of revolution should be replaced by a policy of evolutionary reform by democratic means. The ensuing controversy between Bernstein and his opponents (Bebel, Kautsky, Parvus, Rosa Luxemburg, and Belfort Bax) helped create the split between center and far left, which is still a feature of socialist politics in Europe. Most of the articles and letters contained in this book have never been translated before, so the English-speaking reader is able to follow the debate for the first time. The debate is analysed in the introduction and the editors also provide detailed annotation and a bibliography. This volume will be a critical sourcebook for all serious students of nineteenth-century political theory.