Karl Kautsky, 1854-1938: Marxism in the Classical Years

First published in 1978, this is a major study of Karl Kautsky. Kautsky was the most influential Marxian theoretician in the world from 1895 to 1914. With the exception of Friedrich Engels, with whom he worked in London, Kautsky did more to popularize Marxism than any other person. He was also the first to try to make Marxism the working doctrine of a mass party. An entire generation of Marxists, including Lenin and Trotsky, learned their Marxism in large part from Kautsky. Mr Steenson traces Kautsky’s development from a romantic socialist to a consistent Marxist strongly influenced by Engels.