Revisionism (Marxism)

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Revisionism represents various ideas, principles, and theories that are based on a revision of Marxism. According to their critics, this involves a significant revision of fundamental Marxist theories and premises, and usually involves making an alliance with the bourgeois class. [1] Some academic economists have used revisionism to describe post-Stalin, Eastern European writers who criticized one-party rule and argued in favour of freedom of the press and of the arts, intra- and sometimes inter-party democracy, independent labor unions, the abolition of bureaucratic privileges, and the subordination of police to the judiciary. [2]

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In Marxist discourse, revisionism often carries pejorative connotations and the term has been used by many different factions. It is typically applied to others and rarely as a self-description. By extension, people who view themselves as fighting against revisionism have often self-identified as anti-revisionists. Revisionism is most often used as an ephitet by those Marxists who believe that such revisions are unwarranted and represent a watering down or abandonment of Marxism—one such common example is the negation of class struggle. [3]

History

Eduard Bernstein, an early revisionist Bernstein Eduard 1895.jpg
Eduard Bernstein, an early revisionist

Revisionism has been used in a number of contexts to refer to different or claimed revisions of Marxist theory. Those who opposed Karl Marx's revolution through his lens of a violent uprising and sought out more peaceful, electoral means for a socialist revolution are known as revisionists. Eduard Bernstein, a close acquaintance of Marx and Friedrich Engels, was one of the first major revisionists, and was prominent in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). [4]

In the late 19th century, the term revisionism was used to describe democratic socialist writers, such as Bernstein, who sought to revise Marx's ideas about the transition to socialism and claimed that a revolution through force was not necessary to achieve a socialist society. [5] The views of Bernstein gave rise to reformist theory, which asserts that socialism can be achieved through gradual peaceful reforms from within a capitalist system. [6]

See also

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Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought which emerged after the death of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the late 19th century, expressed in its primary form by Karl Kautsky. Kautsky's views of Marxism dominated the European Marxist movement for two decades, and orthodox Marxism was the official philosophy of the majority of the socialist movement as represented in the Second International until the First World War in 1914, which caused Kautsky's influence to wane and brought to prominence the alternative orthodoxy of Vladimir Lenin. Orthodox Marxism aimed to simplify, codify and systematize the Marxist method and theory by clarifying perceived ambiguities and contradictions in classical Marxism.

Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement via revolution.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Kautsky</span> Czech-Austrian Marxist theorist (1854–1938)

Karl Johann Kautsky was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, which emphasized the scientific, materialist, and determinist character of Karl Marx's work. This interpretation dominated European Marxism for two decades, from the death of Friedrich Engels in 1895 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all proletarian revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that capitalism is a world-system and therefore the working classes of all nations must act in concert if they are to replace it with communism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Marxism</span> Overview of and topical guide to Marxism

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Marxism:

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to socialism, a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers' self-management as well as the political theories and movements associated with them.

Crisis of Marxism was a term first employed in the 1890s after the unexpected revival of global capitalist expansion became evident after the Great Depression of Europe from 1873-1896, which eventually precipitated a crisis in Marxist theory. The crisis resulted in a series of theoretical debates over the significance of economic recovery for the strategy of the socialist movement, leading to ideological fragmentation and increasingly sectarian debates. By the 1890s, orthodox Marxists came to believe that capitalism was on the “verge of breakdown,” while the socialist movement was on the “verge of revolutionary triumph,” but due to a renewed burst of capitalist and industrial activity such interpretations could no longer be maintained in Western Europe.

<i>Junius Pamphlet</i>

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References

  1. Oxford English Dictionary Revisionism 1. "A policy first put forward in the 1890s by Edward Bernstein (1850–1932) advocating the introduction of socialism through evolution rather than revolution, in opposition to the orthodox view of Marxists; hence a term of abuse used within the communist world for an interpretation of Marxism which is felt to threaten the canonical policy." Cites the first use in English "1903 Social-Democrat VII. 84 (heading) Revisionism in Germany."
  2. Paltemaa, Lauri (2007). "The Democracy Wall Movement, Marxist Revisionism, and the Variations on Socialist Democracy". Journal of Contemporary China . 16 (53): 602. doi:10.1080/10670560701562325. ISSN   1067-0564. S2CID   143933209.
  3. Tse-Tung, Mao (July 1964). On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World via Marxists Internet Archive. ... the revisionist Khrushchov clique base themselves mainly on the argument that ... class struggle no longer exists.
  4. Steger, Manfred (1997). The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein And Social Democracy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  5. Eichhorn, Wolfgang, ed. (2002). "Über Eduard Bernstein. Gegensatz und Berührungspunkte zu Rosa Luxemburg und W. I. Lenin" [About Edward Bernstein. Contrast and points of contact with Rosa Luxemburg and V. I. Lenin]. Jahrbuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung [Yearbook for research into the history of the labor movement] (in German).
  6. Wiener, Philip P., ed. (1973–74). Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. referenced in Kindersley, R. K. "Marxist revisionism: From Bernstein to modern forms". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved 28 April 2008.